Taking the Reins
by Angela3511
Summary: After a debacle with Joe, Ranger drops out of Stephanie's life, so Stephanie must move on without help from the man in black. With the help of her friends and the Merry Men, she becomes stronger and more capable, determined to take the reins of her destiny. Along the way, she develops new bonds and unexpectedly falls for someone new. Merry Man pairing. Mostly humor & romance.
1. Stephanie and Terry do Trenton

_**Story note**_**: **_This story does not start out overly friendly to either Joe or Ranger, but neither is made into a complete and total sociopath or anything like that. Joe's pretty much a non-entity after the first few chapters, and Ranger's strange behavior will be explained by the end of the story. However, neither Ranger nor Joe gets the girl. _

_**This is a Tart story**__. So if you can't stand to see Stephanie with anyone but Joe or Ranger, turn away now!_

_Just so you know, I *am* still working on Distracting Ranger, but while I work on it, I thought I'd start posting this story since it's mostly written already anyways. My goal is to post at least once per week._

_It's not nearly as long as Stephanie's Great Escape or Loving Lester (at this point - my muse may hijack the story, which was the case with Loving Lester!), but I hope you enjoy it._

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, alas. They all belong to Janet Evanovich, and I'm just playing with them._

_**Chapter 1: Steph & Terry do Trenton**_

Six weeks. It had been six weeks since I'd spoken to Ranger even though I knew he was still in town and not in the wind doing God knows what.

I knew this because I'd seen him on a couple of occasions but he was always mysteriously gone by the time I got close enough to say hi.

I shouldn't be shocked, it's not like it hadn't happened before. But I broke up with Joe six weeks ago and Ranger has, for all intent and purposes, vanished since then. It had happened before when I was on an off-phase with Joe, but this time the off-phase was permanent. I'd walked in to catch him having sex with Terry Gilman, his ex, and promptly declared myself his ex as well. Well, there were lots more curse words and hand gestures involved, but you get the gist.

And Terry had been under the impression that we were broken up at the time that she was boinking Joe, so she wasn't particularly happy with him either. She sent me flowers the next day to apologize, swearing that she would have never been with him except that he'd sworn that he and I had broken up for the last time.

The sentiment was right, but the timing was definitely off. As far as I was concerned, the fact that he'd spent the night with me the night before and we'd had a bit of morning delight before we left for our respective jobs did not imply broken up forever.

Terry asked me to lunch at Pino's later the week of my big discovery, and I agreed, mostly out of curiosity to find out what she wanted to talk about. Plus I figured it would make Joe sweat bullets to have two exes hanging out.

Terry simply wanted to discuss our mutual hatred of one Joseph Anthony Morelli and that we both make a sworn pact to never trust the slimy bastard ever again.

Plus the fact that every nosy busybody in the Burg was on the phone within seconds of our arrival together meant that Joe rushed into Pino's just as we finished appetizers.

He tried to amble up looking cool, but he was pale, shaky and sweaty. Not a good look, even for the Italian Stallion.

"Stephanie, Terry," he said with a nod as he tried to pull up a chair.

I stared at him. "I don't recall inviting you," I said in a cold voice.

Joe swallowed hard. "An oversight, I'm sure," he tried in an arrogant tone.

"No, it was intentional," Terry said equally as coldly. "You are not invited. Now leave."

"Cupcake," he said as he turned his brown puppy dog eyes on me. His lying, cheating eyes. "You want me to stay, right?"

"Hell, no! I want you to drop dead. But at a bare minimum, I want you to go away."

He swallowed again and looked between me and Terry. "Cupcake, it was just a mistake. Please, can't you forgive me? Give me one more chance?"

I saw Terry still and her blue eyes turn cold as ice. Oh, this should be fun!

"A mistake?" she said in a glacial voice. "I was a mistake?"

I saw the 'oh shit!' look on Joe's face as he realized what he said. "No, no, of course not," he tried to placate her.

"So then cheating on me was intentional then?" I asked in my own evil voice.

"No!" he tried. "It was just… uh… I was…." Stupid boy had no excuse and he knew it, but he was dumb enough to keep trying.

"It's just that you're a lying, cheating asshole with no respect for women?" I said helpfully.

"No!" he cried.

I sighed. "Buzz off, Morelli. We don't want to talk to you. So leave us alone or we'll file harassment charges. Or worse, she'll tell her Uncle Vito about your misbehavior."

Terry smiled and nodded. "I'm sure he'll hear about it either way, but annoying us will only make it worse. Much worse."

Joe shoved the chair back so hard that it fell to the ground with a loud crash. Way to draw every eye in the place, asshole. It's not like they weren't already looking but now they had a good excuse.

Moron.

He nodded quickly and then turned tail and ran away. Terry and I looked at each other and then busted out laughing. Very, very loudly. Joe jerked and turned back to look at us with a look of sheer panic on his face. Very good, Joe. Be afraid, be very afraid.

After we got our mirth under control, Terry and I actually had a very nice lunch. I'd hated her in high school because I had a major crush on Joe and she was dating him, but she'd never given a flying rip about me. After all, I was a geeky sophomore and she was the homecoming queen/ head cheerleader senior.

Then once we were adults, she'd pretty much hated me because I was dating Joe off and on, and she'd had a crush on him still, despite her marriage and subsequent divorce.

I'd always suspected that there was something more than just colleagues between her and Joe when they had to work together. It didn't really matter anymore, but inquiring minds want to know.

"I'm sorry, but I have to know. Were you and the ass ever together when working on your assignments together?" I finally blurted out during my second slice of pizza.

Terry looked startled for a minute. "Yes. But only when he swore you two had broken up. But I'm not sure how much I trust his version of events now."

I hung my head. "We were on and off a lot, but not all the times that you guys were working together."

Terry looked royally pissed. "Stephanie, I'm so sorry. I honestly thought the two of you had broken up. He would talk about us being together but then he kept going back to you. I love him, probably always will, but I can't handle being a piece on the side. That's why I got divorced. I caught my ex-husband cheating. And I would never knowingly do that to another woman."

I nodded. "Thank you. And for what it's worth, I don't blame you. We did break up a lot, and you wouldn't have had any way to know if we were on or off."

By mutual unspoken accord, we stopped talking about Joe. Instead, we simply chatted and got to know each other. We actually had a lot in common, which surprised the hell out of me. I think we could actually be friends if we could get the Joe animosity out of the way.

Just as we were finishing lunch, Lester and Bobby strolled in, probably to check on me.

Lester Santos was one of my best friends at RangeMan. Heck, he's one of my best friends, period. He's a tall, built and smoking hot half Latino man with spiked, brown hair and jolly green eyes. He's also Ranger's cousin.

Bobby Brown is the RangeMan medic and he has more knowledge of my body than anyone other than my gynecologist. He comes by this naturally since he's patched me up more times than I can count. He's also tall, built and smoking hot, but with dark brown skin and serious brown eyes. Bobby's also a great friend.

"Hey, Beautiful," Les said as he plopped down next to me. "How's it hanging?"

"Hey Les. Nothing on me hangs, thank you very much, but I'm okay," I retorted with a smile as he leaned over plant a smacking kiss right on my lips.

"Heard that an officer needed assistance in Pino's," Les said with a grin. "So we thought we'd help."

"You here to help the officer or the assailants?" I asked.

Les just grinned big. "Haven't decided yet."

I shook my head. "Do you guys know Terry Gilman?" I asked. They knew of her, but they hadn't met her, so I did the introductions.

"May I join you?" Bobby asked politely as he stood next to Terry. She nodded and he sat down next to her. See, a man with manners. They do exist, just like Santa.

"So what's up guys?" I asked again.

"Connie's phone was ringing off the hook when we went by to drop off some body receipts, and she told us what happened. We just wanted to check on you," Les said as he slung an arm around my shoulder.

Aww, these big, badasses are teddy bears at times. "I'm fine. Or at least I will be," I told them as I melted against Les.

He kissed the top of my head. "Want us to have a chat with him?"

I snorted. That was code for beating the holy shit out of him. "Tempting, but I think Terry and I put the fear of God in him already, so it should be good."

"How'd you do that?" Bobby asked.

"Simple. We're here together, in full view of all the Burg. So now he's living in fear of what we might say or do, or what Terry's Uncle Vito might do," I told him. "How would you react if two of your exes started hanging out?"

Bobby smirked at me and Lester grinned. "Beautiful, we don't have exes," Les said with waggling eyebrows.

"Alright, Romeo, then if two of your one night stands got together. And then looked at you. And then laughed loudly and for a long time. What would you think?" I tried again.

"That I was just leaving joy and happiness in my wake?" Les said with a flirtatious grin. "Want to be joyful and happy?" he asked in a rumbly, sexy voice as he leaned over to nuzzle my neck.

I rolled my eyes and even Terry shook her head. "You're not right. Seriously, there is something wrong with you on so many levels."

Bobby laughed and Terry looked slightly shell shocked at the smile on his face. Yeah, my Merry Men were hot.

Once they were reassured that I was doing okay, they both pulled me into a hug and left.

"Shit, Stephanie, what the hell were you doing with Joe when you had those guys around?" Terry asked.

I grinned. "Those two are both players and a half. Hot as hell but they're with a different girl every night. And I'm just not wired that way," I explained.

She considered that for a minute. "But what a night it would be!"

I laughed. I'm sure she was right.

"What about their boss, Ranger? Joe always complained about him."

"Also not relationship material," I told her flatly.

Her eyes softened with sympathy. "I see." And I figured she did.

She got a call and had to go then, but not before surprising the hell out of me by hugging me. "We should do this again sometime. Keep ourselves strong," she suggested.

I nodded. "Sure. Just give me a call."

She nodded and then was gone, her Chanel No. 5 lingering behind her.

I left with my head held high and a smile on my lips. That would really disconcert the gossips.

I spent the next five weeks settling into a routine. I got up, went to work, chased skips and went home. Lather, rinse and repeat.

If I called Ranger for help, he rarely answered the phone and texted back that someone was on the way. It was never him. I hadn't even had a real conversation since Joe left, and it was pissing me off. Did he think I had the damn plague?

_**Author's note: **__So what do you think of the beginning? Good, bad or ugly? _

_You know how much I love reviews, so leave me so love!_

_Now that I've got my dissertation submitted and I'm just waiting to defend in a week and a half (fingers crossed!), I hope to have more time to write. I hope to be able to update at least once per week._


	2. Steph vs Jabba the Skip

_**Chapter 2**_

So I finally trudged home, sore, bleeding covered in mud from where a skip had managed to toss me off the front porch when I'd tried my usual rebonding speech. Of course, he was three times my size and would have given Tank a run for his money in terms of sheer bulk, but he was all flab and sagging rolls of fat rather than piles of muscles buffed up with lemon scented Pledge.

I got the bastard in the end, but I was bruised and bloody.

Bobby and Les were making themselves right at home when I finally dragged myself into my lackluster apartment.

"Bomber!" Bobby said as he leapt to his feet and hurried over to me. "What happened?"

"I suck at this job is what happened," I said tiredly.

I tried to push Bobby's hands away but he was insistent, finally scooping me up into his arms and carrying me into the bathroom to clean me up when he got tired of me trying to push him away. He stripped me down to my undies, and suddenly I was very glad that I'd gone with a cute set of periwinkle satin and lace rather than the plain granny panties and sports bra I'd worn yesterday. A girl has to have her standards, even if nothing more than a wound check would happen.

Bobby sucked in a breath when he saw the deep gouges on my arm and shoulder where I'd crashed against the rotting wood of the side of the porch. "Get a shower and then I need to clean out and stitch up those wounds," he ordered.

I nodded and shoved him out of the bathroom. "I love you a lot, but I'm not getting completely naked in front of you!" I called out through the bathroom door.

I heard Les laughing. "What about me, Beautiful? Could I get you naked?" he called out.

"Not even Justin Timberlake could get me naked right now!" I retorted as I started humming 'Rock Your Body'.

Les laughed harder and then the rush of the water drowned out his merriment.

Twenty minutes later, I was wrapped in a pair of towels, one around my body and one corralling my wild hair, and I scampered into my bedroom to put on clothes. I pulled on a tank top that exposed most of my arm and shoulder where the worse of the damage was and a pair of lounge pants.

Bobby was waiting by the door with his medic bag when I reluctantly opened it a minute later.

He had me lay down on the bed and he tucked a couple of towels around me as he set about cleaning out the miscellaneous crap that had been ground into the scratches.

Les was holding my hand and laughing at the words coming out of my mouth. "You sure you were never in the Navy? 'Cause you sure sound like a sailor."

"Screw you, Santos! It hurts!"

Les started running his hands through my hair to distract and comfort me. He knew me too well. It worked as well as anything can work when someone's pouring battery acid on your skin and then scrubbing it with a wire brush. And I'm almost positive that was what Bobby was doing.

He said he was going to numb the skin first. My skin wasn't numb, it was on freaking fire!

Finally, Bobby had put in the last stitch for two especially bad cuts and had used butterfly bandages on the rest. Then he covered the whole thing with a big cotton bandage and wrapped gauze around my chest and shoulder to hold it in place.

I winced when he pulled it against my ribs, and of course eagle eyes caught it. "Ribs hurt too?" he asked as he unwrapped the gauze so he could poke and prod on my ribs.

"Just a little from how I landed. They aren't broken though, just a little bruised," I promised.

"Hmm," Bobby replied noncommittally.

I was almost ready to find my gun when he finally finished poking on me. I'm not sure whether I was going to shoot him or me, but one of us would be dead. And I'd be out of my misery either way.

"I think you're right. Just bruised, maybe pulled an intercostals muscle or two," he said. "But nothing feels broken."

Oh thank you, God! That meant he'd hopefully stop poking at my ribs now.

He rewrapped the gauze and then handed me a couple of pill bottles a minute later. "Mild painkillers, muscle relaxants for the pulled muscles and antibiotics for the cuts, just in case I didn't get all the trash out. Take one of each now, and then follow the directions on the bottles for the rest. Be sure you take all of the antibiotics, every single one of them, and use a backup method if you're on the pill."

I snorted. No worries there. I was pretty sure my shower massager wasn't capable of getting me pregnant despite the action it was seeing with both Joe and Ranger gone.

I dutifully took all three horse pills with the bottle of water Les handed me and then the two of them hauled me out of bed and deposited me gently on the couch. Bobby wrapped a blanket around me and pulled my feet into his lap while Les heated up the pizza that had gone cold while Bobby played medic.

"So you want to tell me why you didn't call us for help?" Les said once I was happily eating the pizza one handed.

"File said he weight 140 pounds. Must have been a typo, the guy was easily 440. It was like taking on Jabba the Hutt," I muttered.

"You need some help getting him?" Bobby asked.

I smiled. "Nope. He's already sitting in jail, waiting for his testicles to descend."

"Beautiful, why don't you come work with us? Then you'll always have backup if you need to blow the hell out of the death star," Lester asked after he winced.

I turned to look at him. "I'm pretty sure that job offer isn't on the table anymore, guys."

Bobby and Lester shared a look that I couldn't read. I hate it when they do that!

"Why do you think that?" Bobby asked.

I shrugged and then winced when it hurt. "Well, I haven't heard the word boo from Ranger since Joe and I split up. Not that it's totally out of the ordinary for him to vanish when I'm single, but at least I usually see him a little. The fact that I haven't seen him at all for six weeks makes it pretty clear that he doesn't want to see me, so why would I want to work for him?"

"You haven't seen him at all?" Les asked in shock.

I nodded. "Nothing more than a quick glimpse since word got out about me and Joe," I confirmed.

They shared a look again. "Stop it!" I demanded. "Just say it out loud so the non-ESP people can know what's going on too."

Les shook his head. "I've seen the Turbo in the parking lot a few times," he admitted.

I narrowed my eyes in anger. "Well, his ass is staying in the parking lot. I haven't seen him or spoken more than ten words to him. If I call him, it goes to voicemail and then he'll text me back. If I ask for help, he sends someone else. I get the picture. I won't be bothering him anymore for anything."

"Beautiful, he probably just doesn't know what to say," Les tried.

I shook my head resolutely. "Nope. He only wants to be around me to taunt Joe. Now that Joe's not in the picture anymore, he doesn't care."

The drugs were starting to get to me at this point and I demanded that Bobby take me back to bed. Les started laughing and I glared at him.

"Just ignore him, baby," Bobby said as he gathered me into his arms. "He's just jealous you didn't ask him to take you to bed. See Santos, she loves me more!"

I rolled my eyes. "You guys are so not right." But I tucked my head against Bobby's shoulder and inhaled the slight scent of antiseptic that clung to him.

He tucked me into bed and kissed my forehead. He moved to leave and I pulled on his arm. "No. I'm cold," I said as I tugged him onto the bed.

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around me as I snuggled into the blankets. "If you were any other girl, I'd take that as invitation," he whispered into my ear.

"The only invitation was to get your hot body closer so I won't freeze to death," I told him. "You guys are like freaking radiators."

Bobby just laughed and pulled me closer. "This helping?"

I just nodded and reveled in the warmth.

"Hey, no fair!" Les said as he walked in and sat on the side of my bed. "Why are you cuddling his fat ass?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm cold."

I heard boots hit the floor and then my backside was feeling toasty too when Les curled around me. "We can't have that."

I fell asleep feeling nice and warm as the filling to a Merry Men sandwich. And what a yummy sandwich it was.

I woke up several hours later feeling cold and lonely. I thought someone was in the room with me when I looked up and saw a shadow in the corner.

"Come back, I'm cold," I complained as I rolled over and snuggled into my pillow.

No answer. When I rolled back over, the shadow was gone. I huffed and pulled the blankets closer. Must have been a dream.

When I woke up again, sunlight was streaming into the room. I squinted to try to read the alarm clock. Crap, it was late. I must have slept through the alarm.

I sat up and saw the pill bottles and a bottle of water along with a note. I flipped open the sheet of printer paper and saw Bobby's precise handwriting.

_Good morning Bomber,_

_Don't forget to take the antibiotics and muscle relaxant right away when you wake up. You're going to be sore this morning, I bet. If it hurts, you can take ½ or 1 of the painkillers or a couple of ibuprofen. I'll stop by with dinner tonight to check your cuts._

_Love,_

_Hot Body Bobby_

I had to grin at the signature. Hot body Bobby, indeed! I vaguely remembered falling asleep sandwiched between Bobby and Lester. I did a little wiggle and nothing south of the border felt sore, so I figured it had been purely platonic. And while the tank top was twisted around me, it was still on, along with my pants, so that was also a good sign.

I groaned when I dragged my sore ass out of bed. As Bobby predicted, I was sore. I took the pills, deciding on taking ½ of the painkiller along with a couple of ibuprofen. I didn't want to be completely out of it from the painkillers, but I also didn't want to hurt. It seemed like a good compromise to me.

I went to the bonds office and Lula pounced on me as soon as I walked in. "Sally's playing at the Cave tonight. You in?"

I shook my head. "No can do. Bobby's bringing over dinner tonight."

Then the door to Vinnie's icky inner sanctum opened and Ranger strode out, looking pissed as hell. He simply nodded and didn't say a word to any of us.

"Who peed in his granola?" I asked rhetorically. Ranger doesn't eat cornflakes. Not enough fiber. Or bark.

Lula and Connie shrugged. "Seemed a lot more pissy now than when he went in. Vinnie must have annoyed him," Lula said.

"Imagine that," Connie deadpanned.

I dropped off the receipt for Jabba the Skip and picked up my new files. They were mostly repeats and should be fairly easy to pick up. I hoped. Because I sure as hell wasn't in the shape to chase someone down today.

I got my repeats back in the system and went home to wait on Bobby. He didn't say, but I figured it was best to not shower until the bandages came off, and boy was I ready for the bandages to come off.

_**Author's note: **__ Wow, thanks for the great response so far! I'm glad you all are enjoying the story. To those who left a review, especially the guest reviewers I can't respond to, thank you so much!_

_I'll update as often as I can, but I can't promise daily updates like I tried to do with Loving Lester. I'll shoot for __at least__ weekly, but more often if possible (like this one)._

_Cute story from today. I'm in my office advising when a group of students from my class last year wander in… with a cake and a card! I'm defending my dissertation next Tuesday and they heard, and they brought me a red velvet cake with "Dr. Angela" on it. They made me cry. I love my students! I have the best job ever! _

_So… I have to ask. Which Merry Man do you think it'll be?_


	3. Riding to the rescue

_**Chapter 3**_

Bobby showed up with a frozen tray of veggie lasagna and a big tossed salad. The lasagna smelled heavenly and I was willing to suffer through the salad to get to the good stuff.

After we ate, he checked my cuts and sent me off to shower. He'd redress the wounds once I was squeaky clean to try to fight infection. He said that one of the deeper scratches was a little pinker than he'd like, but there was no obvious sign of infection, so I'd probably be good with the oral antibiotics and the antibiotic ointment.

After he applied some foul smelling goop, he rewrapped everything. He'd stop by again tomorrow to check it out, but he figured I'd be good with one more night of keeping it covered.

We watched action movies for the next hour or two until I was starting to get sleepy. I fell asleep leaning against Bobby's broad chest as he chuckled at the antics of Vin Diesel on the screen.

He shook me awake some undetermined length of time later. "Steph? Wake up, Bomber."

"Hmm?"

"I just got paged, I have to head to the hospital," Bobby said.

"Huh?"

Bobby repeated himself. "Ram got shot during a take down gone bad. I'm heading to the hospital."

"Ram! Ohmigod, is he okay?" I asked as I sat up, moving away from my sleeping spot, his chest.

"No word yet. So I need to get there."

"Can you give me two minutes to change? I want to come with you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. Even if Ranger's being an ass, you guys are still my friends," I insisted. "Two minutes, I promise."

Then I jumped up and ran for the bedroom, jerking off my tank top as I ran to save time. I heard Bobby gasp and realized I'd just given him a free show, but he was a medic and a playboy, I'm sure he'd seen a boob or two before.

In less than two minutes, I was back in the living room dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. Bobby already had my purse and was standing by the door. I grabbed a pair of sneakers and headed out. I'd put them on in the car.

Fifteen minutes later, we were at the hospital. There were already a number of men in black there, and we made a beeline for Les standing in the corner.

"How is he?" I demanded as soon as we were in hearing range.

Les shrugged and looked grim. "No word yet. Tank's on his way with the paperwork, but he was delayed with an alarm call, and with all of us here, he and Ranger had to go cover it. It'll be another thirty minutes or more and they won't share anything except with next of kin until they see the forms."

"What's Ram's real name?" I asked after a moment's thought.

"Michael Ramsey. Why?" Bobby asked.

"Is he involved with anybody?" I asked instead.

Les shook his head. "Now's not really the time to be asking him for a date, Beautiful," he replied, his eyes still full of worry.

I rolled my eyes. "No, but if he's seeing someone, I don't want to go play the frantic wife if a real frantic girlfriend might show up. That's a little too Jerry Springer for me."

I saw understanding light up their eyes. "As far as I know, he's single," Bobby said.

I pulled my cell phone and car keys out of my purse and handed the bag to Les. He looked at it like it was a highly venomous snake but finally accepted it.

"Back in a minute."

I rushed to the information desk, not having to fake being upset. I didn't know Ram well, but I liked him a lot, and the other Merry Men were pretty upset not knowing what was happening with their comrade.

"Can I help you?" a friendly nurse, who thankfully I didn't know, asked.

"You brought in my husband, Michael Ramsey. How is he?" I demanded.

She blinked at me for a second. "Let me check. I'll be with you in just a minute."

I nodded and she vanished. I turned back to nod at Bobby and Lester.

After a very anxious five minutes, she finally returned. "He lost a lot of blood but he's doing okay now. They've already stitched him up and he's getting some fluids right now. Someone will be out in just a minute to take you back to him."

I nodded and rushed over to Bobby and Les. I repeated what the nurse had said. They both let out relieved smiles and flashed thumbs up to the rest of the guys. All the other men in black congregated by our sides and I went through the report.

I was almost done with a door opened and a man in scrubs stepped out. "Mrs. Ramsey?"

Bobby poked me in the side surreptitiously and I realized he was asking for me. I clamped down on Bobby's hand and dragged him with me over to the door. "Yes?"

"Are you Mrs. Ramsey?" he asked.

I nodded. It wasn't _really _a lie if I didn't say yes out loud, right?

"I'm Rich, one of his nurses. I'll take you back to him," he said.

"Can Bobby come too? He's the company medic and a friend."

Rich shrugged. "That's up to you, you're his wife."

Bobby and I followed Rich through the ER into a private room. I gasped when I saw Ram lying still on the bed. I was used to him having such a commanding presence that it really freaked me out to see him lying completely still.

I rushed to his side while Bobby started peppering the nurse with questions. I don't speak medical, so I tuned them out and simply sat down in the plastic chair by the bed. "Hey, Ram," I whispered as I held his hand. "You're safe now. It's Stephanie, and Bobby's here to take good care of you, okay?"

His eyes slid open slightly. "Steph?" he asked in a low, rumbly voice.

"Yeah," I replied and then Bobby was standing over my shoulder.

"Hey man, it's all good. It was a through and through, you'll be back at the range in no time," Bobby said in what I call his medic voice. It's low and soothing.

Ram squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back. I looked around and saw that the nurse had left us alone. "For the record, we're married now. That's the only reason they let us back here. I'll stay with you until they release you, okay?"

"You don't have to do that," Ram tried to protest.

"I know I don't have to, but I want to. It sucks to be left alone in the hospital, and I'm not leaving you alone. And right now, you're in no condition to fight me on it, so deal with it, honey buns."

Ram grinned a bit at me and then closed his eyes. "How'd I get such a pushy wife?"

"Karma," I replied. I'd leave the good or bad up for interpretation. Ram grinned a bit wider and seemed to fall back into a light sleep.

Bobby just shook his head at me. "Any man would be lucky to have you as a wife," he said. "Now I'm going to go fill the others in on your honey buns."

"Bring my purse back with you," I instructed.

"Why didn't you bring it in the first place?" Bobby asked as he paused at the door.

"In case they asked for ID, I could lie and say I just grabbed my keys and ran for the door. But they didn't ask, and I want my stuff," I explained.

"Damn, you're good," Bobby said admiringly. Damn skippy.

I waved him off and settled in to focus on Ram. He'd been shot in the stomach and I could only thank God that it hadn't hit anything vital. They said he'd be back at work soon, but I figured getting a bullet to the belly wasn't a good thing.

It looked like they'd done a haphazard job of cleaning him up, probably being more preoccupied with, you know, saving his life. There were still streaks of red on his chest that I could see above the oh-so-flattering hospital gown, and a few flecks of red on his face.

I knew I hated waking up covered in blood, so I figured I'd try to clean him up as best I could.

"Ram," I said softly. "I'm going to try to clean you up a little. Okay?"

He didn't say anything but he nodded a little. So I poked around in the cabinets until I found a washcloth and a plastic basin. I filled the basin with warm, soapy water and sat it down gently on the rolling bedside table. I unsnapped the hospital gown and pulled it down to pool in Ram's lap.

It only took me a few minutes to get all of the blood I could see washed away, carefully avoiding going anywhere near his wound. Then I dried him with the towel I found and was trying to get him wrestled back into the hospital gown when his hand caught mine.

"Leave it off," he murmured, his bright blue eyes staring into mine. "It's damn uncomfortable."

I nodded and stopped fighting with the recalcitrant gown. I just pulled up the sheet to cover his yummy broad chest instead.

"How are you feeling?" I asked.

"Fine."

"Okay, let's try it again but with the truth this time," I said with a smile. "How are you feeling?"

His lips twitched slightly. "Like shit."

"That sounds more honest," I told him. "Do you want me to call a nurse?"

"No. It just hurts. But getting shot hurts, that's why we try to avoid it."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, exactly. Skip pulled a gun when the new guy tripped. I don't know what happened with the vest, it should have stopped the bullet. Guess he managed to get me at the edge or something," I said.

"So the new guy fell, alerting the skip?" I asked to clarify.

"Yeah," Ram said with a tired sigh. "Tripping was bad enough, but then he started cussing and the skip took a pot shot. Then new guy freaked out when he saw me bleeding and the skip got away."

"Wow, this new guy sounds even worse than me," I said with a laugh.

Ram opened his eyes and grimaced. "I'd much rather you have my back than him."

I smiled. Good to know.

I sat with him while he dozed for what seemed like hours but was probably less than half of an hour. It sounded like it was getting harder for him to breath and when I looked closely, his lips were starting to turn slightly blue. I may not be a doctor, but I know that humans aren't supposed to look like Smurfs.

So I hit the call button and called Bobby to get back here right away.

A nurse had just walked in when Bobby appeared out of nowhere. "Steph, what's wrong?"

"His breathing is getting raspy and his lips are turning blue," I told then both.

Bobby stepped around the nurse and examined Ram. Then Bobby pulled the stethoscope from around the nurse's neck and listened to his breathing.

"She's right, it's definitely raspy. And his lips and nail beds are blue. He's not getting enough oxygen. Get the doctor," Bobby ordered.

The nurse took one look Ram and vanished.

"Ram?" Bobby said as he shook Ram by the shoulder. "Wake up, man."

Nothing.

"Ram!" Bobby all but shouted in his ear.

No response.

Bobby rubbed his knuckles hard over Ram's chest and Ram barely flinched. It looked freaking painful, so I imagined that something had to be wrong for Ram not to respond to that.

The doctor walked in a second later and Bobby started barking out orders. I backed up and shoved myself into the corner where I'd be out of the way but still able to see what was happening. Ram was turning bluer and his breathing was getting raspier.

The doctor yelled something and then the room was full of people. A nurse pushed in what I recognized as a crash cart from my addiction to George Clooney on 'ER' and the doctor yanked a needle and vial of drugs out of the drawer and injected it into the IV port feeding into Ram's wrist. Then he pulled another vial out and again injected it.

Several very freaking long minutes later, Ram's breathing seemed to get a little better, but that could also be the oxygen tube that they'd stuck up Ram's nose. He looked less Smurf like, which could have also been the oxygen.

His eyes opened slowly and he blinked in confusion several minutes later.

"Ram, you had a bad reaction to one of the drugs," Bobby said. "Steph caught the early signs of it and we've got it settled down now. You'll be fine in a few hours."

He just blinked a few times before looking around the room. When they locked on me, I stepped forward to hold his hand. "Just so you know, you don't look good as a Smurf."

He tried to smile but it seemed to take too much energy and he closed his eyes again.

The room cleared out except for me and Bobby, but this time, the steady beeping of a heart monitor kept us company.

"Good catch, Bomber," Bobby said as he pulled me into a hug. "I'm glad you were back here, they didn't have him on a heart monitor so who knows how long it would have taken for them to notice this."

I let out a breath. "People aren't supposed to be blue. Blue is not normal."

Bobby chuckled. "No, blue is not normal. Good job."

I nodded. "After all that excitement, I have to go to the bathroom, but now I'm scared to leave him! Can you stay with him for a minute or two?"

"Sure," Bobby said as he pulled out his cell. "I'm just going to update Ranger and Tank."

I nodded and went to find the bathroom. I'd spent so much time in the hospital that I definitely knew where the bathrooms were located, so it didn't take me long. I was surprised by how pale and shaky I was when I looked in the mirror, but nearly watching a friend die is probably going to do that.

I stuck my head back in the door and told Bobby I was going to grab a Coke to help settle my stomach. He just nodded.

I went into the waiting room and was surrounded by men in black. "How is he?" Cal demanded.

"He's fine now. He had an allergic reaction, but they gave him drugs to counteract the drugs that made him sick in the first place. I'm just going to grab us a couple of Cokes. I know my blood sugar is in the toilet after that, and Bobby was looking a little shaky too. Bobby will be out to talk to you guys once he knows more, but he said it would be a few hours before Ram would be released."

By the time I finished answering questions, Hal handed me two Cokes and two TastyCakes. I grinned at him and he grinned shyly back. He was finally starting to get over the whole being stunned by his own stun gun thing.

I saw Ranger heading my way and I quickly pulled up my blank face and nodded at him.

"What's going on?" he asked as he got closer.

"Ram got shot. Apparently the new guy he was with tripped and then cursed about it, spooking the skip, who then shot at Ram. It must have hit at the edge of the vest because it actually caught him. It was a through and through and he's been stitched up from that. But one of the drugs had a bad reaction and now Bobby's with him until I get back," I reported in the most neutral voice I could manage.

"Why are you here?" Ranger pressed.

"Bobby was at my place when he got the page. I asked him if I could come, I wanted to make sure Ram was okay. So for the moment, I'm Mrs. Ram so I can be back with him while he's recuperating. Bobby can give you the details in a few minutes," I replied.

Then I nodded at Hal and turned and walked back into the secure part of the ER.

I handed Bobby a Coke as soon as I walked in and then flopped down on the chair. He raised his eyebrow at me.

"You're looking a little shaky too, doc," I told him. "So drink up."

Bobby grinned, shook his head and then popped the top and took a long swallow. I followed suit.

"How's he doing?" I asked once I'd finished most of my sugary, carbonated drink.

"Same. Hasn't woken up again yet, probably won't be long though," he said.

"Ranger got in just as I was heading back," I told him. "So you probably need to go fill him in on the situation."

"You doing okay?" Bobby asked softly.

I shrugged. "Don't know why he's being an ass, but he's being an ass. So I'm trying to ignore him as much as possible. I gave the guys the bare details, you can give them all the medical stuff that I don't know."

Bobby nodded, ruffled my curls and then walked out.

I stayed with Ram until he woke up looking somewhat confused. "Hey, honey buns," I said. His eyes fixed on me for a second before he grinned slightly.

"Hey, hot stuff," he replied. "What the hell happened?"

I squeezed his hands. "You had an allergic reaction to one of the drugs they'd given you. But I noticed you morphing into a Smurf and they were able to give you something to fix it before it got too bad. They said you'd be fine in a couple of hours, and that was an hour ago."

He grimaced and tried to sit up. I jumped up and helped him raise the head of the bed. "You need anything?" I asked anxiously.

"Water?" he asked.

I hit the call button, and the nurse, Rich, popped in a minute later. "Can he have some water?" I asked. Rich nodded and vanished, hopefully to go get some water.

He was back a minute later with a cup of water, which I lifted to Ram's lips. "Easy now," I warned. "You don't want to drink too much and screw with your stomach." Like I said, I've spent a lot of time in the ER getting patched up before.

"Thanks," Ram said after he drank what he wanted.

I sat on the side of the bed and brushed Ram's hair away from his face so I could check his temperature with the back of my hand. He shot me a confused look.

"Hey, watching you turn blue was kind of scary, so I'm just making sure you're not about to start running a terrible fever and pass out," I told him with a grin. He just shook his head slightly and relaxed against the bed.

"No one's checked my temp like that since I was a kid," he admitted.

"Me either, but it's how my mom always tried to tell if I was really sick or trying to bullshit my way out of going to school," I told him. "And it was usually pretty accurate."

He smiled at me, a full on smile and my breath hitched in my chest. I don't think he'd ever really smiled at me like that before, but he had dimples. Damn, it's not right. The man is already hot as blazes but he has dimples too? He was as muscular and toned as Ranger and his face looked like it should be on the cover of GQ with his short black hair and bright blue eyes, but he has a smile from a toothpaste commercial too? So not fair.

"You have dimples," I told him in awe. He just grinned wider, which made the dimples even deeper. "That's not fair. I always wanted dimples," I complained.

He chuckled slightly. "I'd give them to you if I could. They aren't particularly manly."

"Is that why you never seem to smile?" I asked.

He nodded slightly. "At work, yeah. I don't want the guys to pick on me for being girly. And our lives don't always have a whole lot to smile about."

"Well, regardless of what the guys say, I think it's cute," I declared.

He groaned. "This is why I don't smile much. Badasses don't do cute."

"Girls like cute," I argued.

"Most girls are scared of guys like me, so whether my smile is cute or not is a moot point," he said.

"Smile like that more often and girls might be so caught up in your cute smile that they don't notice the mercenary thing until it's too late and they're madly in love with the dimples already," I tried with my own smile.

He just shook his head, but he was still smiling and the dimples were still flashing.

I ran my hand experimentally through his Brutus-style hair and his eyes closed. I'd have sworn that he moaned slightly. I had to smile. "Big scary badass likes to be petted?" I asked.

"If I could purr, I would," he told me in a rumbly voice. So I kept running my hands through his hair, enjoying the feel of the silky hair under my fingers.

I rubbed his hair until I felt like my arm was made of rubber and I couldn't lift it anymore. He smiled when I finally let my hand fall. "That felt good, thanks," he told me.

"No problem. You're a good kitty," I replied. He just snorted slightly and smiled again.

I stayed with him for another hour until the doctor finally released him into Bobby's care. We didn't talk much but we'd occasionally exchange a bit of small talk.

I helped Ram get out to the SUV waiting to take him back to Haywood. I leaned in to kiss his cheek as he settled in the seat. "Bye, honey buns," I whispered. "It's been fun being married to you."

He grinned tiredly at me. "You too, hot stuff. Best wife I ever had." Then I closed the door.

"Bomber, Lester's going to take you home now," Bobby said as he came up to me and kissed my forehead. "I need to go back to get Ram settled."

"Sure. Go save the world, doc," I told him.

Les slung one arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. "Maybe I'll get to take you to bed alone this time, Beautiful," he whispered in a sexy rumble directly into my ear.

I rolled my eyes. "Since we're already at the hospital, you want to go ahead and get your head examined? 'Cause you're clearly delusional," I teased.

Les laughed and pulled me to his waiting car. I could see Ranger watching us from the corner of my eye, but he didn't say anything, so neither did I.

Les got me back to my apartment and made sure there were no killer dust bunnies waiting on me. He gave me a big smacking kiss on the lips, which I immediately brushed away.

He shot me a sad look. "You don't like my kisses anymore?"

"I just don't know where those lips have been tonight," I teased, and Les got a cocky grin.

"There's still time for them to be somewhere fun, Beautiful," he said with an eyebrow wiggle.

"Oh poor baby, guess it's just you and Mr. Righty tonight, huh?" I said as I closed the door in his face. He laughed and promised to get me back for that but I just stuck my tongue out at the closed door and made sure all the locks were engaged before I collapsed on the bed. It had been a long night and I was still feeling pretty damn sore from my own run in with Jabba the Skip.

_**Author's note: **__As always, please let me know what you think. Reviews make me more giddy than a kid hyped up on sugar watching Saturday morning cartoons._

_Thanks for reviewing!_


	4. Do a little dance

_**Chapter 4**_

Bobby and Les came by with lunch the next day. A very early lunch. I was still in bed sleeping when they started knocking on my door.

"Whaddya want?" I demanded in a growl as I flung open the door.

They just laughed at me. So I pointed my gun at them. "Laugh again and I shoot," I threatened. I was not in a good mood.

They stopped abruptly. "Um, Beautiful," Les started nervously.

"Are you guys stupid?" I asked again as I pushed my hair out of my face. "You know what time I got home last night. So why are you here this damn early?"

"Steph, it's nearly noon," Bobby said in his soothing medic voice. "We figured you'd be up by now."

I growled at him and dropped my gun to my side. "I didn't get home until nearly 6 freaking am!"

They both let out a sigh of relief as my gun dropped.

"Wow, when you say you're not a morning person, you really mean it, don't you?" Les said rhetorically. Had to be rhetorical. The evidence was clearly in front of him.

I flipped him an Italian hand gesture as I stomped back towards the bathroom. "Fuck you, Santos!"

"Yes, please, Beautiful," he said with a laugh. "I'm ready and willing whenever you are."

I turned around to glare at him. "I still have my gun."

"Is it loaded?" he asked curiously, seemingly impressed that I even had my gun.

"Want me to pull the trigger and find out?"

"No, thanks."

"Then shut the hell up and start the damn coffee."

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," Les said with a salute. But he went to the coffee maker and started it. Smart man. Bobby kept his mouth shut. Smarter man.

I harrumphed and went into the bathroom to do my business. Once I tamed the Medusa hair, washed my face and brushed my teeth, I headed back out. I kept my gun. I wasn't convinced I wouldn't need to shoot one or both of them.

Plus I needed to put it back in my gun safe, aka, the cookie jar.

I sat down at the table where a cup of coffee was waiting on me. Ahh, heaven. I could feel the caffeine coursing through my veins chasing away the cobwebs and pissiness.

"Feel better?" Bobby asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"Getting there," I admitted. "So why are you guys here so early?"

Bobby flashed me his killer grin. "Well, watching you threaten to take him down was about the most entertaining thing I've seen in a long time."

I rolled my eyes. "Then you, my dear, need to get a life."

Les grinned. "I keep telling him this, Beautiful, but he won't listen to me. Maybe he'll listen to you."

I shook my head. "How's Ram?"

Bobby snapped back to being serious. "He's fine. He's resting back at the office. He'll be fine in no time."

"What about the new guy who got him shot?" I asked.

Les snorted. "He's probably in worse shape than Ram after going a couple of rounds on the mats with everyone."

I felt my eyes widen. "Do tell."

Les smirked at me. "This was his first night out on patrol and he blew it, big time. He fucked it up bad and he got Ram shot. If the skip had better aim, he could have gotten Ram killed."

I paled at the idea of one of my guys dying.

"Once the police let him leave the scene, Cal took him back to the office and thought he was acting a little squirrelly. So Cal decided to lock him in his apartment on four until one of the core team could get back and decide what to do with him. Little punk was trying to make a break for it. As if," Les snorted.

"Who was he?" I asked.

Bobby took up the story. "Not who he was supposed to be."

"Huh?"

"He was supposed to be a Marine, but after a bit of… persuasion, the full story came out. His twin brother is the Marine. This guy got himself in some financial difficulties and decided that it would be easier to get a job if he used his brother's identity instead of his own since he's been in some trouble in the past. When we did the background check and everything, we thought we were hiring a highly decorated Marine, not his punk ass loser brother."

"Oh shit!"

"Oh shit is right, Beautiful," Les said. "Ranger was fit to be tied. We managed to get a call in to the brother, who was also less than pleased that his brother was impersonating him and using his service record to get a job. So dumbass will probably get his ass kicked again when his brother gets a hold of him. Assuming he can walk by then."

I shook my head. "How did no one pick up on this?"

Les shrugged. "One of the guys in another office did the search, and he'd known the brother in the service. So he didn't dig too deep, didn't turn up that the brother was his identical twin brother."

"Is Ranger going to kill him too?" I asked.

Les shrugged again. "Don't know yet. It's a pretty major fuck up, but we all hate doing those damn searches. That's why we loved having you do them, I'm sure you'd have noticed it. You sure you don't want to come back?"

"Guys…" I started.

"I know, I know," Les said. "But damn, it'd be nice to have you back," Les said wistfully.

I just shrugged. Wasn't by my choice.

"How'd he pass the physical and all that?" I wondered aloud. It's not like any random person off the street could pass the RangeMan physical requirements.

"He was in good shape," Bobby said. "Did fine on the physical assessment. Maybe not quite what I'd have expected from a just out Marine, but well enough that I didn't question it. And he and his brothers had grown up shooting, so he knew his way around guns. He knew enough stories from his brother to be able to fake it. And none of us were looking for anything out of the ordinary, so we didn't see anything out of the ordinary."

"Huh. Weird."

Les slung his arm around my shoulder. "Face it, Beautiful, we don't have your Spidey senses."

I snuggled in closer. What? My apartment was chilly and Les was hot, in many ways. "You cold, Beautiful?" he asked as he pulled me closer.

I just nodded.

"Why don't you just turn up the heat?" Bobby asked.

"Can't. Apartment owners have it set at 68 since the whole building is heated by the central furnace, so this is as warm as it gets in winter."

"Come here, Chilly Willy," Les said as he pulled me even closer. "I'll keep you warm." And he did until my stomach started demanding food. Then we sat around and ate the subs they'd brought from Pino's and I decided it was a good thing I hadn't shot them after all.

We chatted a little more, and Bobby reassured me that Ram would be fine. He was just resting back at Haywood, and there were tons of guys around to keep an eye out if he needed anything, but Bobby had just checked on him.

Then Bobby checked my cuts, and then they left and I faced a dilemma: back to bed or go do actual work?

Decisions, decisions.

In the end, I decided to split the difference and I called Connie. If she had files for me, I'd go in. If she didn't, I'd stay home and try to do some research on the open files I did have.

She didn't have anything for me, so I spent the day just hanging out with Rex. It was mommy-hamster bonding day. Taking naps together is bonding, right?

Bobby and Les came by again with dinner one day the next week. I fell asleep on the couch with my feet in Bobby's lap, but I woke up in bed the next morning. It was magically warm and cuddly, and I didn't know why until I sat up and saw the note on the bedside table.

Les had bought me an early Christmas (or late birthday) present to keep me warm so I wouldn't be so desperate to have to cuddle with Bobby to stay warm. It was a deluxe electric blanket that had kept me snuggly warm all night. Aww, I love my guys.

I texted Les with my thanks and got an invitation for him to replace the blanket with his hot body at any time, no questions asked. Yeah, right. He was feeling delusional again.

I got up, did my usual thing and then hunted down some cranky skips who weren't exactly joyful to be going to the hoosegow. But I didn't end up with any more major wounds, so I was going to call the day a success.

I was dropping off my body receipts when I saw Ranger coming out of the bonds office. He stopped and nodded at me. "Babe."

I smiled my professional 'I'm here to take you to jail' smile. "Ranger," I replied and kept going. He put out a hand and grabbed my arm before I could open the door.

"How are you?" he asked.

"I'm well, thank you. And you?" I said in my best Burg voice.

"Fine. Haven't seen you around much lately."

"I've been around," I told him.

He looked slightly uncomfortable. "I've been busy."

"Uh huh. Well, speaking of being busy," I said as I pulled away. "I need to get going."

I had the door halfway open when he spoke again. "Big plans tonight?"

I didn't turn back around. "Yep."

And I did. Bobby had promised to bring over something only marginally healthy for dinner if I'd let him help me set up a work out routine. Actually, I'd asked him to help me to figure out how to get into somewhat decent shape without giving up my beloved junk food, and Bobby had nearly jumped out of his skin in joy at the opportunity.

"Oh. Have fun," Ranger said.

"I'm sure I will." Then I walked in the office, feeling good about myself for resisting Ranger and for getting in the last word for once. It had been over two months now since I'd broken up with Joe and this was the first time Ranger had said more than three words at a time since the hospital when Ram was shot. And those don't count since they'd all been about Ram being, you know, shot. So screw him if he thinks I can ignore the fact that he has ignored me for the last two months.

I got my check, rushed to the bank and made it with two whole minutes to spare. Then I went home and dressed in workout gear, feeling positive that Bobby was going to make me regret asking him for help. But I figured it was time to be a grown up and admit the fact that while my apprehension numbers weren't bad, I could sure use all the help I could get in getting better at my job.

Bobby showed up a few minutes until seven with two bags full of stuff. Oh heck, I'm screwed.

"Um, Bobby? What's all this crap?" I asked nervously.

"Work out stuff for you," he replied as he started pulling things out of the bags.

"You realize I just wanted to get in slightly better shape, right? Not turn into one of you guys?"

Bobby laughed. "You couldn't get the kind of muscles we have, you don't have enough testosterone to pull it off. But you said you wanted to get into somewhat better shape, and I'm here to help. I'm the training and conditioning coach for the office, so if anyone can whip your ass into shape, it'll be me!"

I turned to look over my shoulder at my butt. "My ass is already in decent shape!"

Bobby laughed again. "Yes, it's one fine butt, Bomber, but getting in shape a little will help you to keep that fine ass safe."

"As long as you weren't saying my ass is fat."

"I'm smarter than that," he promised. "I have sisters."

It was my turn to laugh. "Tell me about your sisters while you get out your torture devices."

And he actually did. He told me about growing up as the oldest child and only boy with two sisters and how protective he'd been of them growing up. He wasn't close to any of them really now since they weren't thrilled with his job at RangeMan and just wanted him to settle down and be a nice family PA with a wife and three kids. Being the medic and PA for a bunch of mercenaries wasn't the life they wanted for him.

"Damn, no wonder we get along so well," I commented.

"Yeah, we have similar family expectations. But the good thing is that my family is all still in Chicago so I don't have to deal with them all that much. I don't know how you handle your family being so close all the time," he admitted.

"Neither do I!"

He grinned and started hooking up something to my TV. "What's that?" I asked curiously.

"My old Wii," Bobby told me. "I don't use it anymore. If I play any video games, it's pretty much on my X-Box or maybe at Lester's apartment. But there are some fun workout games that I thought you might enjoy, so I stopped and picked you up a couple at GameStop."

"Like what?"

"Like a couple of dance games. You like to dance, right?"

"Yeah," I said, actually getting a little excited at the idea of workouts not being completely boring and totally heinous.

He showed me how to work the Wii and then loaded in a Michael Jackson dance game. Within minutes, Bobby and I were trying to do the Thriller. I had it down pretty good, I am an 80's girl after all, but Bobby looked like he was having a seizure. I couldn't stop laughing at him.

He glared at me, but I could tell he didn't mean it. Then he popped in a Latin dance game but ignored the instructions on the screen. He pulled me into his arms and we salsa danced around my living room to the music instead. "That's the kind of dancing I do, baby," he told me with a grin.

"Well, I could get into that kind of exercise!" I told him. "Much more fun that running on a freaking treadmill."

Bobby smiled at me and kissed my nose before he pulled me over to look at the rest of the games. One was a personal trainer game where I could track my cardio and it would take me through some muscle building exercises. I would have a receiver wrapped around one thigh so I couldn't fake it and I would have to hold the Wii nun chucks in my hand for boxing exercises and upper body stuff.

It didn't seem as fun as dancing with Michael Jackson.

Then Bobby pulled out some stretchy bands, two pairs of small dumbbells and a couple of fold out charts of exercises to do with my own body weight.

Gulp.

Bobby pulled out a printed schedule he'd made up for me. I was to do the cardio dance games for at least one hour three times per week, and the personal trainer game for thirty minutes twice per week.

Then Bobby had me do some of the exercises on his charts so he could make sure I knew how to do them right. He had to correct my form a little bit, but for the most part, I did okay. I did know how to read, you know.

"You keep this up for two weeks solid, and I'll take you out dancing for real. No Michael Jackson shit," Bobby bargained.

I nibbled on my lower lip. "You won't even have to try to get some scumbag to leave with you. It can be just us or I'll get a bunch of the guys to go too."

I sighed. He knew he had me when he offered me a chance to see more of the guys. I hadn't seen them since the hospital when Ram was shot.

"Fine. I'll try it," I agreed. His face lit up like a Christmas tree and he told me to pick a dancing game while he got dinner going.

"You're going to cook?" I asked in shock.

He grinned. "Yeah. But don't worry, I brought my own pots and pans and stuff since I figured you didn't have any."

"Smartass."

"You love my ass."

I blatantly checked out his ass, and he obligingly bent over to stick it out for me. "True," I admitted with a grin that earned me a chuckle. What? It's a very good ass. Excellent, even.

So I went back to the Michael Jackson game and had actually worked up a pretty good sweat playing the games by the time Bobby told me to wash my hands.

I plopped down in the chair after I washed my hands and my bright pink face. "You did pretty good there, Bomber," Bobby complimented. "You were working pretty hard for over forty-five minutes. So with the Thriller and salsa dancing, we can count this as your first hour-long workout day."

"It's because I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it, I'm bad," I sang as I dug into the delightful smelling chicken on my plate.

Bobby just laughed. "As long as you're not a smooth criminal," Bobby commented and I grinned at him. "Though I might enjoy putting you in cuffs." I just rolled my eyes at him.

"Damn, Bobby, this is good!" I told him after I moaned my appreciation for the tangy, citrus flavored chicken. "What is it?"

"Orange chicken," he said.

"I've had orange chicken from the Happy Wok," I told him. "But it didn't taste like this."

"It's a healthier version that's stir fried rather than deep fried. But it's still pretty damn good, if I do say so myself," Bobby replied with pride evident in his voice.

"You're going to have to give me cooking lessons next," I told him as I enjoyed another bite of the chicken, vegetables and rice.

"I can do that. I was going broke eating out all the time, which is why I decided to learn to cook," Bobby said. "I'm no Bobby Flay, but I can cook enough to keep from starving."

"I can only make sandwiches," I told him. "But I bet this is way more complicated than spread peanut butter on bread."

Bobby laughed. "Yeah, a little bit."

I was so excited by my games that I decided to play the Latin dance game once we finished dinner. Bobby helped me to get my movements right, but he totally kicked my ass on this game. I remained happy with the fact that I'd kicked his ass at Thriller, though.

Bobby left a little after midnight when I started yawning.

"I'll give you a call tomorrow and see how you feel," he said as he kissed the top of my head. "Sleep well."

"You too!" I told him. "And thanks so much for bringing by the games. As soon as I hit the lottery, I'll pay you back."

"No worries. I like hanging out with you. And if this will help you to get in shape, well then it was a small price to pay."

I grinned at him and then he left. I took a shower since I felt sweaty and icky and then crashed.

_**Author's note: **__I hope everyone who was in the path of the Frankenstorm/ Hurricane Sandy is doing well! We had high winds and heavy snow showers (though not a ton of accumulation, thankfully – just enough to screw up everything) here in my part of the country from the storm, and it cancelled my dissertation defense. __ Sad times. I hope to get it rescheduled for ASAP._

_In the meantime, take my mind off the fact that I'm stuck at home in the snow and still ABD instead of done by leaving me your thoughts on this chapter!_


	5. Girls night out!

_**Chapter 5**_

It was several days later before I actually saw my two favorite Merry Men again. "Jeez, guys," I exclaimed when I saw them. "You look awful!"

"Thanks, we love you too," Lester said as he slid into the booth at Pino's.

"What the heck happened?"

"Ranger's been in one hell of a pissy mood lately," Lester explained. "So he's been calling us to the mats over every little thing. And with some of the guys on vacation, we're working doubles."

"Stupid asshole," I muttered. "Why's he doing that?"

"You haven't had another fight with him, have you?" Bobby asked.

"Nope, I've barely seen him. I saw him for a minute earlier in the week but that was it. And we never had a fight in the first place, he just decided I had the plague and avoided me," I told them.

Bobby sighed. "He'll get over it, he always does. I just haven't seen him like this in a long time," he said.

"I hope you guys survive it," I said sympathetically.

"Me too," Lester moaned as he laid his head on his arms.

"You need to go to my apartment and rest a little?" I asked in concern.

"Nah, we'll be fine," Bobby answered. "But screw the temple, I need something full of fat and flavor. If it's going to be my last meal, I don't want it to be a freaking salad!"

"Now you're talking my language!" I said with a grin. We all three ordered meatball subs with extra fries.

"How are the workouts going?" Bobby asked after the food got there.

"Good! Dancing is way more fun than jogging. And it comes with different levels, so I should be able to use the games for a while. And if we do go dancing sometime, I'll have some new moves," I told him.

Lester looked confused so we explained about the games and our deal to go dancing. "Count me in," Les exclaimed. "I can't wait to see your moves."

I smiled. "I'm trying, I really am. And it might even help me to be able to chase down my skips if I'm really lucky."

We enjoyed lunch until they got paged to help with a take down. They groaned but quickly threw down cash and left.

I had a shitty day on Thursday. It was just one of those days where nothing seemed to go right, no matter what I did. I managed to get all my skips, but I had to chase them down, tackle them and drag them kicking and screaming to jail. I should have just left the ripped pair of jeans on after the first debacle, but how was I to know the second guy would be a fruitcake too? So I destroyed two of my few remaining pairs of jeans and was just not in a good mood.

"You know what we need?" Lula declared at the office the next morning as I told them my woe is me story. "Girls night!"

I thought about it. I hadn't had a girls night in for-freaking-ever.

"Fine. Tomorrow night. We'll do dinner and hit the club," I agreed.

Lula and Connie both grinned.

"Any new files for me?" I asked Connie. She shook her head no. I headed out then, I needed to swing by Target to pick up some new jeans to replace the ones with the giant rips in the knees thanks to my dumbass skips from yesterday. Two of my favorite pairs of jeans, trashed. Argh! Sigh. Oh well, maybe I could turn them into cutoffs for summer, at least.

I called Mary Lou and invited her to girls night and she immediately agreed. She'd dump the kids off on Lenny and was excited to have an excuse to get out of the house.

I hesitated for a minute before dialing a new number in my phone's contact list.

"Hello?" came the answer.

"Hey, Terry, it's Stephanie Plum," I replied.

"Hello, Stephanie. It's nice to hear from you. How are you?" Terry replied with real warmth in her voice. We'd gotten together for lunch once more since the lunch that Joe had crashed, but our schedules hadn't exactly lined up.

"I'm good. We're having a impromptu girls night tomorrow tonight, and I just wanted to see if you wanted to come. I know it's short notice, but I just wanted to invite you."

There was a pause for a second. "Sure, that sounds great! When and where?" I went through the details with her and she said she couldn't meet for dinner, but she'd meet us at the club at 9 pm.

"Great, I'll see you there!"

I ran into Les at the police station later that evening when I was taking in Sheila Reynolds, one of my skips. She'd beat the crap out of her boyfriend when she'd found him boinking the male neighbor when she'd come home early from work with the flu.

I had a lot of sympathy for her, especially when she didn't try to run or anything. She just smacked herself in the forehead, asked if I'd let her get her purse and jacket first, and then came with me easily.

"Hey, Beautiful," Les said with a big smacking kiss on the lips that made Joe Morelli, who was standing in the background but not taking to me (huh, maybe he's a little bit smarter than he looks!) absolutely seethe.

"Hey, Les. How's it hanging?"

"To my knees, Beautiful."

I just shook my head and waited for the desk sergeant to hand me my receipt. "Vinnie's on his way, Sheila," I told the waiting woman. "Good luck!"

She just nodded.

I turned back to Les. "What's up?"

"Vince and I are heading to Shorty's for dinner. Want to go?" he asked.

I nodded. "Sure."

I climbed in the POS du jour and laughed when Les folded his six foot something tall body into my tiny passenger seat. "Damn, Beautiful, we've got to get you a bigger car!"

"Tell you what, Les, when this one blows up, you can help me pick out something bigger."

"Deal!"

I followed the black SUV to Shorty's and split a pair of pizzas with the guys. Shorty's still scared me a little, and I would never eat here alone, but I knew I was safe with the guys. They were way scarier than the rest of the patrons.

"So what are you doing this weekend?" Les asked. "Please say me."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Girls night out tomorrow night."

That perked him right up. "Really? Going to get all slutted up and go out prowling for men? I could totally be up for that. In more ways than one."

I dug my elbow into his ribs and he chuckled. "Down, boy. Yeah, we're going to go out and have a good time, and no, you're not invited."

"Oh, Beautiful, you wound me!"

"Yeah, yeah. Vince, shoot him since he wants to be wounded."

Vince grinned at me. "I'm supposed to wait at least an hour after eating, Bomber."

"That's for swimming, not shooting!"

"I knew it was an s-word of some type," he teased back with a wink.

I rolled my eyes at the both of them. Boys. Can't live with them, can't shoot them without going to jail.

"Why don't you want us there?" Les said with a pout.

"Are you a girl?" I asked bluntly.

"Give me your hand for a second and I'll answer that question for you," Les replied with an outrageous grin as he tried to grab my hand.

"If you aren't a girl, you can't go to girls night," I told him as I sat on my hands to keep them out of Les' lap. I don't know if his joke earlier about hanging down to his knees was just a joke or not, but I wasn't about to find out!

"But Beautiful, I'm way more fun than a girl, I promise," he teased.

"Not looking for that kind of fun, Santos," I said firmly.

"Oh, baby, but we could be such fun together!" he said with waggling eyebrows.

I sighed. "Les, please don't make me shoot you in front of your friend."

Vince laughed. "Rejected!"

Les shot him a dirty glare. "Like you'd do any better!"

Vince snorted. "I could if I wanted."

Oh great, this was going well. "Boys, settle down now," I said in my best babysitter voice. It never worked on Mary Lou's boys, but maybe it would work on them.

"Come on, Beautiful, I just want to dance with you! You've been doing those dancing games, and I just want to see your moves," he protested.

I wavered. Scented weakness, he moved in for the kill. "Please, Beautiful? Just a couple of dances. We'll get together a couple of the guys who aren't working and we'll just come and dance with you."

"I'll talk to the girls and let you know," I finally said by way of compromise.

Les settled back with a grin on his handsome face.

"If he can go, then I want to go, too," Vince protested.

I nodded. "If the other girls agree," I hedged. "I'll have to ask them first."

I texted the girls when I got home, and got back pretty quick responses. They were all in favor of having hot guys at our beck and call. Even Terry.

_Those the guys from Pino's a couple of weeks ago? _she texted back.

_Some of them, yeah._

_Do they ALL look like that?_

_Yeah, pretty much._

_Bring them! ;-)_

I had to laugh. The Merry Men had made another conquest of the mob princess.

I called Les and told him when and where to meet us, and he seemed very happy. He told me to be sure to wear my dancing shoes and to eat my Wheaties for breakfast, and he'd take care of getting the guys there to dance with us.

The next day, I had donuts with Lula and Connie at the office as we planned out our evening.

"So who's all going?" Lula asked as we destroyed a box of donuts.

"Us three, Mare and Terry," I said as I cleaned a blob of Boston crème off my fingers.

"Terry Grizzoli?" Connie asked in surprise.

I nodded.

"You guys still hanging out?" Connie asked.

"Yeah. Turns out she's actually kind of cool. I like her now that I don't hate her."

Connie and Lula both laughed.

"Your flock of hotties coming too?" Lula asked.

I nodded. "Les is going to take care of getting some guys there to dance with us. I don't know who all's coming other than Les and Vince," I said to forestall questions.

"Vince? Who's he?" Lula asked.

"Tall, dark and handsome," I started.

"Hon, that describes all of them!" Connie interjected.

I rolled my eyes. "The Italian guy. Looks like he should be in the Godfather remake or something."

"You should date him," Lula said. "Your mama would be thrilled."

I rolled my eyes again. Honestly, they were going to get stuck like that. "Probably. But I don't think Vince is my type."

"Why? What's wrong with him?" Lula asked suspiciously. "What'd he do to you?"

"Nothing's wrong with him and he hasn't done anything. He's just a little too macho Italian for me after dealing with Joe's bullshit for so long," I said to placate her.

"Oh." Rhino mode averted. Phew.

I had no new files, so we hung out until it was time to close the office at noon. Then we hit the mall. Connie and Lula did some serious damage to their credit scores, but I managed to resist. Mostly.

I bought a new hairpin at Claire's, but I didn't buy any new clothes. I had plenty of distraction clothes at home that would be unlikely to get worn again since Ranger was being an ass, so I might as well wear them out to have a good time. I couldn't justify spending hundreds of dollars even though I really wanted to. Really, really wanted to. A lot.

We went back to our separate homes to get ready, and I shaved, buffed, plucked and waxed everything that needed it. I was walking a little funny for a few minutes after the home bikini wax, but everything was pretty now. Pretty pink and painful, that is.

I did my hair and makeup and then shimmied into a tight black leather skirt and an electric blue halter top that made the most of my girls. A pair of lethally high heels and I was good to go. I just need my little black clutch purse and my keys.

I paused to check out my ensemble in front of the mirror. Damn, this working out shit made my legs and ass look good!

Mare picked me up and we headed to the restaurant. Mary Lou was in a tight red dress that showed off her brick shit house figure and the red highlights in her brown hair.

"Damn girl!" I exclaimed.

"Right back at ya, Steph," she told me. "We're going to start a riot!"

I just grinned.

Connie and Lula were already waiting at the restaurant to get girls' night started in style. Connie had also done her own waxing when she'd gotten home as the slight shadow on her upper lip was gone, and she was rocking a super low cut black dress. Lula was in a skintight canary yellow mini dress that was designed for someone my size and barely contained Lula's more ample charms.

"Alright, Terry's meeting us at the club, so we can go ahead and get this party started," I told the girls.

"Hell yeah!" Lula said as she perused the menu.

A very bemused waiter came over to take our order a few minutes later. "Celebrating something special tonight, ladies?" he asked.

"Just having a girls night," I told him.

He grinned widely, probably expecting a big tip. He was probably right.

We ordered a couple of appetizers and the other ladies decided to go ahead and get started on the drinks. He turned to me expectantly and deflated slightly when I just ordered water. I'm a cheap drunk and I wasn't planning to be tipsy before I even got to the club.

We had a nice, leisurely dinner chatting and laughing before we finally headed to the newest and most popular dance club in town shortly before 9.

I texted Les that we were on our way, and he said he was waiting there already.

I frowned with dismay to see the line of people waiting to get in. We headed towards the back of the line, but then Les stepped out of the club and waved me towards the door.

I looked at the bouncer and he nodded and opened the velvet rope for all of us to bypass the line, much to the hissed anger of the others waiting.

"RangeMan does the door," Les said casually as he pulled me against him for a hug. "Damn, you look beautiful, Beautiful!"

"Thanks, Les."

Les pulled me to the back of the club, where there were a couple of tables with reserved signs on them. One was packed with Merry Men. The other was open.

The girls and I got settled at our table and then the guys came over to start asking us to dance. Les had just held his hand out for a dance when Terry walked up.

"Hey, Steph," she said as she sat down her purse.

"Hey, Terry," I said with a smile as I introduced her to the Merry Men she hadn't met yet, which was most of them.

Then I smiled as all of us hit the dance floor to shake what our mama's gave us. We certainly did not lack for company on the dance floor.

Les had gotten a bunch of the guys there. Vince, of course, since he was there yesterday to hear about girls night in the first place, but also Cal, Woody, Manny, Zero, Hal and Binkie.

"Where's Bobby?" I asked.

Les shook his head. "Monitor duty tonight. He's not happy, says you still own him a night of dancing."

"Aww, poor Bobby," I replied.

Les just grinned, and then laughed when Woody dragged me off to dance. Here's a tip. I'm a Jersey girl. I do NOT two step! And I do not want to learn!

Woody found it very amusing. I did not.

Good thing he's cute.

When I danced with Les the next time, I had to ask. "Does Vince know that Terry is Family?"

I'd noticed that they'd been dancing together quite a lot. Les shrugged. "I don't know. It's fairly common knowledge, it's it?"

I nodded. "Is he as much of a player as you? 'Cause if he is…"

"Whoa there, tiger! Ain't nobody like me, baby," Les said with a grin.

I rolled my eyes at him. "Look, Les, Joe was playing both me and Terry, and she doesn't need another player. So if that's how he is, then he needs to just leave her alone." Or he'll be wearing cement shoes.

"Terry's a big girl, she can handle herself, Beautiful. But Vince isn't a total player, he just likes the ladies like any red-blooded man does."

"He better behave himself or her Uncle Vito will get him neutered," I told Les. "You might need to make sure he knows the score before he tries to score."

Les sighed. "You're not going to let this drop, are you?"

"Do I ever let anything go?"

"No. Most persistent chick I've ever met."

Once the song ended, Les and I went over to talk to Vince and Terry. Les pulled Vince aside and I pulled Terry back to the table.

"So what's the deal with Vince?" she asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know him as well as I do some of the other guys. Les says he's not a total player, just that he likes the ladies, whatever the hell that means. I know he's a good guy, all the guys at RangeMan are good guys."

She shot me a look. "That include the head guy?"

"He's being an idiot right now, but he's still a good guy."

She nodded. "Vince seems like a nice guy so far. But what the hell do I know? I thought Joe Morelli was a nice guy," she muttered.

I grinned. "Want me to get the guys to beat him up for you?"

She smiled back, but it was like a shark's grin. "No, I could get my own guys to do that."

Eek, don't piss her off.

She laughed at the look on my face.

Then a new song started, and Hal come over to ask me to dance. I was a little shocked, actually. He still seemed a little shy around me, probably because I stunned him with his own stun gun once, but he seemed to be getting over it quickly.

"Sure," I said with a smile. "I'd love to!"

We danced, and I have to tell you, for such a big guy, Hal sure had some damn smooth moves.

"Wow, you're a great dancer," I told him.

He grinned at me. "Thanks. My mom was a dance teacher. Bet I'm the only guy in here who can do the Viennese waltz."

I laughed. "Probably so. Les doesn't look so much like a waltzing kind of guy."

Hal grinned at me. "Not so much, no."

"You get them to play the music for a Viennese waltz, and I'll do it with you," I told him.

He looked at me in surprise. "You can waltz?"

"Please. I'm a Burg girl. If it's done at a wedding, I can do it. Mothers like mine are the reason why your mom had a job."

Hal laughed. "Did you like it?"

"The old fashioned dances? Hell no. But when we got to learn cooler stuff like jazz and modern dance, that I enjoyed."

"Yeah, I got dragged into most of her lessons because she never had enough boys enrolled. It was the bane of my existence until I got old enough to appreciate getting to hold girls."

I tried to wiggle my eyebrows at him, a la Lester, and he grinned at me.

"Something like that," he agreed.

We chatted while we danced, and then he walked me back to the table. "We'll have to go out sometime and break out our mad waltzing skills," he said.

I laughed. "Sure, just let me know ahead of time so I can figure out what the heck one wears to waltz in."

He smiled and then kissed my hand with a flourish before melting back into the crowd.

"You and Mr. Shy Guy?" Lula asked.

"Just dancing," I told her.

"Huh, seemed like he wanted to do more than dance," Lula opined.

I rolled my eyes at her and flopped down, more than ready to take my weight off my feet for a few minutes. These heels were hot as hell, but they were also murder on my feet.

Cal didn't let me rest for too long. When a Metallica song came on, our mutual love for metal drove him to find me. Despite the tattoo in the middle of his forehead, or maybe because of the bad boy vibes it, and his six foot plus muscled body, projected, he had no problems at all getting female attention, and I was getting death glares from the cadre of girls he abandoned to come shake his mighty fine ass to 'Enter Sandman' with me.

He pulled me so close that you couldn't slip a piece of paper between us as the driving beat of Metallica had us grooving on the dance floor. Next to Les, Cal was the most touchy-feely with me, and boy, was he touching and feeling during this song!

Left me feeling a little flustered, honestly. I was really glad when Manny swept me away to dance to Shakira.

Manny was far more chatty tonight. Cal could be talkative, when he was in the mood, but he had an intensity about him tonight that was a little unnerving.

Manny and I joked around while ours hips shook and shimmied. When I looked around, I saw that Terry was once again dancing with Vince. Hmm.

Connie was dancing with Hal and Lula seemed to be amusing Les. Mary Lou was gone.

Once the song ended, Manny and I went back to the table. "Where's Mare?" I asked.

"Lenny called. One of the kids swallowed a toy car, so she left," Connie explained.

"Can I go ahead and sign up to get my tubes tied?" I asked rhetorically.

"No kids for you, wifey?" Manny asked.

"Hell no. I'll stick with hamsters."

Les slung one arm around my shoulder. "You really are the perfect woman."

"Damn straight."

"So I guess I'll be taking you home tonight since your ride left already," Les said with an eyebrow waggle. "You're all mine, Beautiful."

"Les, I'm armed and dangerous, don't forget. I would have thought you'd have learned your lesson last time."

"You're damn sure dangerous," he said as he checked out my legs.

I smacked his chest and he laughed.

"Keep it PG, you horndog, or I'll get one of the other guys to take me home instead," I told him as I stuck my hands on my hips.

"You think you can trust any of them?" he asked in askance.

"More than you? Absolutely!"

"Oh, Beautiful!" he mock pouted. "I'm so hurt."

I rolled my eyes at his theatrics. "Will someone please shoot him?"

Hal raised his hand. "I'll volunteer."

Les shot him a dirty look. "Traitor."

"Hey, man, she's way prettier than you are," Hal argued.

I blew a kiss at Hal, who grinned back at me.

Les considered it for a second. "True dat." Then he did a fist bump with Hal. "I like a man who has his priorities in order," Les commented.

"I thought it was bros before hos?" I asked.

"Yeah, but it's chicks before dicks in certain situations, Beautiful," Les said with a grin. "And in that tight little skirt, we can tell which one you are!"

I smacked him on the arm, which probably hurt me more than him.

Les just grinned and dragged me back out to the dance floor while everyone else laughed at us.

I shook it like a Polaroid picture with the guys until I couldn't shake it anymore. Lula was still going strong with some new guy, and both Vince and Terry were gone. Hmm. Connie was sitting at the table rubbing her feet.

"Alright, stick a fork in me, I'm done," I announced to Hal, who chuckled and walked me over to the table.

"She says she's done," he told the much smaller group still left at the club.

"We have to work on your endurance, Beautiful," Les told me.

"Kiss my ass, Santos," I told him with a frown as I sank down with a groan. "You try dancing for hours in fucking four inch heels and we'll see how well you do!"

Les just flashed his famous grin at me. "I'd love nothing more than to kiss your ass, Beautiful. Was that an invitation?"

I flipped him the bird. I figured that was sufficient answer. Les just grinned in response.

"Alright, come on then," Les said as he held out his hand to me. "I'll take you home."

I shot him a suspicious glance. "Can I trust you?"

He smiled his most charming grin at me. "Absolutely not."

So I turned to Hal. "Can I trust you?" I asked him.

"More than Santos? Yeah," he told me with twinkling blue eyes and a big grin.

Good enough. "Can you take me home?"

Hal grinned at me. "Sure, happy to."

"Aww, come on, Beautiful" Les protested. "You can trust me!"

"You just said I couldn't," I reminded him.

"You know I was just kidding!"

"Too late. And I warned you. Hal, home please."

"Yes, ma'am."

Hal took me home while I ignored Les' pout. I tried to convince Hal that I'd be fine if he'd just let me out at the door, but he insisted on escorting me all the way to my front door and then doing a sweep of my apartment to make sure that Stephen King's freaky clown wasn't hiding in my closet waiting to pop out at me.

It wasn't.

Get it? Ha!

After making sure I was safe from killer clowns, Hal gave me a hug and left. I kicked the evil heels off and made a halfhearted effort to get my makeup off before I toppled into bed, completely and utterly exhausted.

_**Author's note**_**: **_ I did it! I passed my defense! So I'm unofficially Dr. Angela now, and I'll officially be Dr. Angela once I formally graduate with my doctorate in education in a month (December)._

_Thank you all so very, very much for the happy thoughts and contorted fingers and toes! It meant a lot to have your support._

_I'm a bit behind in responding to your reviews, mostly because I was so dang nervous about defending, but I want you to know how much I appreciate each and every review I receive. So to everyone who's reviewed, especially those guest reviewers to whom I can't respond, a resounding thank you!_

_And back to our regularly scheduled update. So what did you think? Have I sufficiently muddied the waters with the various Merry Men? Don't worry, it'll become clear(er) soon!_

_The new avatar for this fic is my mental image of Ram. It just so happened that this pic was posted on the Yahoo! group BabecakesRUs a few days ago, and wowza, but it was him! Just imagine him with blue eyes to see how I pictured Ram when Steph was talking to him in the hospital. Wasn't it nice of him to pose for us? *wink*  
_


	6. It's fun to stay at the YMCA

_**Chapter 6**_

It was another week before I spoke to lecherous Les again. We'd chatted via text message and had emailed a few times, but we kept missing each other when we called.

"Hey Les! How's it going?" I asked.

"Good. How's the workout regime going?" he asked.

"Pretty good. I actually do one of the dance games almost every morning before I head to the office for a little bit, and I'll do the weight training stuff for a few minutes at a time during the evening until I get in at least thirty minutes. I think it's really making a difference after only a few weeks," I said enthusiastically.

"We're going to turn you into a gym bunny," he said with a chuckle.

"Don't hold your breath," I warned.

"I have excellent breath control," he said in his bedroom voice. "And I'll be happy to demonstrate anytime you like."

I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see it on the phone. "Pass."

"Damn."

"So how are things going at the office? Ranger ever get his head out of his ass?"

Lester laughed. "No, but he left to go in the wind yesterday, so we're hoping that we'll be able to recover. And maybe he'll be in a better mood by the time he gets back."

"Oh," I said quietly. "How long?"

"Don't know, but probably a couple of months for this one. Why do you sound so sad?"

I sighed. "He usually would stop by to tell me he was leaving if he was going to be gone more than a couple of days. Just reminded me of what's changed. But I just don't know why, Les. What did I do that was so wrong other than end a relationship that brought me nothing but pain? Why did me breaking up with Joe mean that Ranger hated me?"

Les sighed. "I don't know, Beautiful. I don't know why Ranger's acting like he is. We might be related but I don't understand how his damn mind works."

I sighed too. "Sorry, I didn't meant to take it out on you. You're one of my best friends, you know that, right?"

"I know, Beautiful. And you're one of my best friends too. And my only girl friend, which is why is so sad you won't let it become more!"

I snorted. "It would be more for a week tops before you got bored and then the friendship would be ruined. So no thanks, I'd rather keep you as a friend."

"You don't know that! It could be two weeks or maybe even three!"

I laughed. "Nice try, Cassanova. But the answer stands."

"Damn."

I laughed. "One of these days, your thingy is going to fall off from overuse," I told him.

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Well, I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can until then!"

"You're such a man whore," I retorted.

"Sticks and stones, baby, sticks and stones," he said.

"You saying I can hit you with sticks and stones next time I see you?" I asked. I only got a chuckle in reply.

"Aw hell, I have to go, Beautiful. We have an alarm going off," Les replied.

"Be safe," I told him.

"Will do," he said. Then he was gone.

With Ranger gone, Bobby and Lester stayed super busy so I rarely saw them. I wanted to ask for help with self-defense training, but I knew how busy they were. I knew they'd make the time, but they had almost no free time as it was trying to run RangeMan. So I kept my mouth shut and signed up for a self-defense class at the YMCA. Better than nothing, right?

I showed up ten minutes early for the self-defense class two weeks later. I was chatting with a couple of college girls when my jaw nearly dropped. It was Ram and some guy I didn't know.

"Good morning, my name is Ram and I'll be your instructor today. This is Franklin Johnson and he'll be assisting. Let's get started with introductions."

He did a double take when he saw me standing there and I shot him a grin. He smiled back, dimples and all, and the college girls gasped.

"Ohmigod, he is so hot!" the blonde girl said. Well, squealed, actually. "And he smiled at me!"

I had to suppress a chuckle. I knew he wasn't smiling at them, but I might as well let them have their momentary fantasy.

Ram went through a bunch of stuff about being aware of your surroundings that had me rolling my eyes. Yeah, like I'd never heard that before. Ram smiled again when he saw me rolling my eyes, and the college girls sighed again.

After about twenty minutes of lecturing, Ram had us pair up so we could practice self defense moves. As there were seven women at the seminar, I paired up with the college girls. Jeez, was I ever really this young? And silly?

All they could talk about was how hot Ram is. Granted, the man is gorgeous and sex on a stick, but they were a little over the top in their appreciation. I mean seriously, Ram was probably close to fifteen years older than they were!

I practiced self-defense moves with the college twins until Ram came over to us. "Hey, gorgeous," he said as he got closer.

The brunette college girl giggled madly. "Um, hey, sexy?" she replied.

He shot her a confused look before looking back at me.

"Hey there, honey buns," I said with a grin.

I got evil death glares from the college twins. I could read their thoughts- how dare I poach on their man? I must be getting better at the ESP thing.

"Steph, you practice with me since we have an odd number," Ram told me. Again, I got death glares from the college girls. I smiled at them and turned to face Ram.

He put me in a hold and I had to try to get out of it. I tried but only halfheartedly. "Steph, I've seen you get out of this hold before. So what's the problem now?"

"I don't want to hurt you," I told him.

He laughed for a few seconds. "Wait, you're serious?" he finally asked when I didn't join in his merriment.

"Um, yeah. You got shot a few weeks ago and I don't want to hurt you! And the way I usually get out of this hold is with an elbow to the gut," I told him as I started to get somewhat irritated.

"Thanks for caring, but I'm fine now. Good as new. So get out of the hold!" he barked out the last bit as an order.

I narrowed my eyes at him but turned back around so he could grab me again. This time, I didn't hold back. I threw my elbow into his stomach, his arms loosened and I turned around to face him. I shot my knee up into his boys, stopping just a quarter of inch away from his pride and joy. Since he had instinctively hunched forward when I hit him in the belly, we were the same height, so I was looking directly into his wide blue eyes.

"How'd that work for you?" I asked snarkily.

He straightened and grinned at me. "Better than before, that's for damn sure. And I appreciate you pulling the kick, it would look bad for the self-defense instructor to get his ass handed to him in practice."

I smiled serenely. "You're welcome."

Ram started laughing and stepped back a few inches to rub his rock hard abs. "Damn, I've never felt you hit that hard before."

I grinned at him. "Bobby's got me working out some. Guess it's helping."

"Seems like it," Ram said. "I think you're good with that move. Let's try some others now," he said as he grabbed me in a bear hug so I couldn't use my elbows and lifted me off the ground. "How would you get out of this at a distraction gone bad?"

"Um, wait for you to shoot the mo-fo in the head?"

Ram started laughing. "Honey, I'm a damn good sniper, but I can't shoot through your head to get to the bad guy's head without killing you too. So you have to get yourself down long enough for me to get the shot. How would you do that?"

I struggled for a minute and Ram seemed to be enjoying himself way too much. Smug bastard.

I finally sighed. "I don't know. I can't move my arms and my feet are ten feet off the ground. You guys are too freaking tall. So I don't know how to get out of this hold."

Ram sat me back down on the ground and walked me through some potential ways to get out of the hold while on the ground. Then he picked me back up again and had me practice it a couple of times while I was dangling in midair.

I grumbled about it. "How many skips do I go after that are as tall as you? Most of them are normal people height, not nine feet tall like you."

"I'm only six-four, and we've picked up skips taller than me before. So let's figure out a way for you to get down if you go after a big guy."

"I'll bring backup if I go after the Jolly Green Giant," I muttered, but I was able to wiggle out of his grasp once I kicked my heel up next to his boys.

The college girls looked like they were about to shoot me, so I drew his attention to the rest of the class. "The Bobsey Twins want you to put your hands on them now," I told him with a smile.

He looked at them and frowned. "They're children!"

I laughed. "They're college freshmen, so they're probably eighteen. And they think you're hot!"

He shook his head. "Only Santos would go for jailbait like that."

I laughed. It was true that Les did like them young, but even he probably would draw the line at these two. They really did look like pre-teens.

"Hey, how about you stick around after we're done and we can go to lunch to talk about getting you some training? I need to go help Frank out," Ram said as he jogged away. I enjoyed the view of him leaving and then turned back to the pissy college girls.

"He's my coworker. I didn't know he'd be teaching this class today, sorry," I told them. "Now, what moves do we want to try?"

Several hours later, I was sure there were holes in my shirt from the glares from the college girls. But I'd learned a few new moves so I figured it was a morning well spent.

The college girls glared a little more as they left. I'm not sure why they were so pissed, they'd practiced with Ram's assistant Franklin on several occasions, and he was a hottie too. Not as hot as Ram, but he was probably only in his mid-twenties, so it was a better match than Ram.

I packed up my stuff and was waiting for Ram when I started getting very bored. And as anyone who knows me can attest, I don't do bored well. So I walked back into the practice room and saw that Ram had been cornered by a woman in a skintight leotard who seemed to not take no for an answer. He had his blank face on and his arms crossed over his impressive chest, but the lady just kept chattering on and on at him.

I looked at him and grinned, and he raised one eyebrow at me. Bastard, he knows I hate when they do that.

I was hungry and bored, so I decided it would be more expedient to rescue Ram than to enjoy watching him squirm.

"Hey, honey," I said as I walked up to him and wrapped my arm around his waist. "You ready to go pick up the kids from my mom?"

The lady stopped midsentence and glared at me. I was getting a lot of that today. "Kids?"

"Yeah, we have three kids. Michael Junior, Lucy and Isabella. And we should go pick them up now or we'll be late for the movies. Ready to go, honey?"

Ram just nodded at the lady and wrapped one arm around my waist as we walked away. "Thank you," he whispered into my ear.

I somehow managed to keep from laughing until Ram had helped me climb into his pickup truck. But as soon as the doors were closed, I lost it.

"Oh holy shit, that was funny! I've seen you face down killers and all kinds of bad guys, but one cougar hitting on you freaks you out!"

"She wasn't hitting on me, she was telling me shit about sexual positions that I don't think are anatomically possible, and that I for damn sure don't want to test out with her! It was like being around your granny!"

That doubled my laughter. I had tears running down my face and I couldn't breathe. Eventually, Ram gave in and chuckled too. "I was raised to respect women. So yeah, I could have just moved her out of my way, but I didn't want to hurt her. So thank you for saving my life for a second time."

"Second time?" I questioned.

"Yeah, Bobby told me it could have been much worse at the hospital if you hadn't been there and let him know I was having an allergic reaction when you did. And I'm pretty sure that this lady would have eaten me for lunch if you hadn't come up with that line of BS about our three kids. So I definitely own you lunch at least."

I shrugged. Things were kind of tight with no part time gigs with RangeMan, so I'd take the free meal if I could get it. It was better than going to my mom's house for dinner, that's for sure. Mom was incensed that I refused to take Joe back, despite his cheating, so I hadn't been there in weeks. I couldn't deal with the lectures anymore, so it was just easier to just avoid mom all together.

"There's a great little Mediterranean restaurant around the corner, you up for that?" Ram asked.

I smiled at him. "When have I ever refused any type of food?"

He grinned back at me and put the truck in drive. Five minutes later, we were walking into a hole in the wall that had the most amazing smells. I sniffed appreciatively. "Well, if the smell is anything to go by, I'll be a very happy camper!"

Ram gave me a half smile, no dimples, rats, and put one hand to the small of my back to guide me to a booth in the back. Of course, he sat with his back to the wall so he could see anyone who came at him.

"So of all the self-defense classes in all the world, what led you to mine this morning?" Ram asked after he ordered an antipasto platter for us to share.

I groaned. "That was awful."

He just grinned at me. "Seriously, why did you sign up for a little seminar like that? Why not ask Ranger to train you?"

I looked at him for a minute. "Well, one, Ranger's gone. Two, he's not my favorite person right now and I don't want to ask him for anything."

Ram's eyebrows nearly disappeared under the edge of his hair. "What happened?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I broke up with Morelli for good a couple of months ago and Ranger essentially vanished. I've barely said a dozen words to him since then."

Ram shook his head. "That's weird. The man is nuts over you."

I shrugged. "Maybe he was but only when it was some sort of bullshit macho competition with Joe. Now that I'm single, he doesn't seem to give a damn. So to misquote Rhett, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn either."

"I'm sure Santos or Brown would help you."

"Yeah, I'm sure they would too. But they're really busy and I didn't want to bother them with this. Heck, they're two of my best friends and I almost never see them anymore because of how busy they are with Ranger gone. So, yeah, they would have helped me, but it would have been at a personal sacrifice. So I figured a short course at the Y was better than nothing. I had no idea you'd be the teacher," I explained.

Ram scratched his head. "Yeah, I've been doing self-defense classes at the Y for the last few years."

"Why's that?" I asked.

"Because it save my little sister from being raped or worse," he said.

"Okay, you have to tell me this story now!" I told him.

He took a deep breath. "My dad left when I was ten and my little sister, Ashley, was only a few months old. So it was just us and my mom and I became way overprotective of my little sister. Then I join the Navy at eighteen and eventually work my way into the SEALs and I don't get to see her that much because I'm gone so much of the time. And when I was home, I was usually hanging out with my friends or doing other stuff and I just somehow never thought about teaching my little sister any moves. So she went to one of the rape aggression defense courses when she was a freshman in college when one of her friends insisted on it. Two years later, some asshole grabbed her and tried to pull her into an alley. She remembered a few moves and was able to get away. He'd raped two other girls in town already, and it was only because of the self-defense class that she was able to avoid being the third. So I promised as soon as I heard that as soon as my life was settled enough to allow it, I would teach these classes to try to help other women to get away like Ashley did."

I reached out and put my hand over his. "Wow. I'm glad Ashley was able to get away, that sounds terrifying."

Ram nodded, looking at his hands on the table. "She had nightmares for a while about it. She got bruised and beat up a little, but she was able to get away. And the son of a bitch was still on the ground puking by the time the cops got there, so they were able to arrest him. DNA results later proved that he'd raped the other two girls."

"So Ashley did a wonderful thing by kicking the loser in the balls."

"Yeah, she did. But I should have been the one to teach her how to defend herself, not some random cop at her college."

"Why do you say that? Does it really matter how she learned, as long as she learned?" I asked softly.

"Yeah. It does to me. So I teach these classes to pay back the fact that someone took care of my little sister for me," Ram replied.

"You just need to forgive yourself for not being psychic. If you could have predicted that would happen, you can let me know the lotto numbers so I can buy my own private island in the Bahamas."

He shook his head slightly.

"You're a good man, Michael Ramsey," I insisted and his head came up as he looked at me in surprise.

"What? I was married to you, I had to know your real name," I teased.

He just grinned. "I almost never hear my real name anymore. I've been Ram for so long that Michael sounds weird now."

"Well, do you want me to call you Ram or Michael? It's your choice," I offered.

He thought about it for a second. "Ram's fine. Even my mom and sister call me that half the time now. It just sounded weird coming from you."

"Okey dokey, Ram it shall be. Just let me know if you ever change your mind and want to be Michael again," I told him.

"God, I was never Michael unless I was in trouble. I was Mike until I joined the Navy and then it was Ramsey and then finally just Ram," he explained.

"Hey, it could be worse. You could be called Tank!"

We both laughed at that for a minute. Then the antipasto tray arrived and I couldn't hold back one of my trademark moans as I bit into savory prosciutto and fresh melon.

I looked up to see Ram smiling at me, dimples on display. "You're always fun to eat with," he told me as he took a bit of his own.

"Bite me, it's how I am," I told him. "I've tried to tone it down for years but I can't. It's just how I react to good food."

"Oh no, we all love it. It just can make things uncomfortable if you're eating dessert."

I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled.

"So why do you want to learn more self-defense moves?" he asked after we polished off the antipasto tray and were anxiously (at least I was) awaiting the entrees.

"Well, you know what I do. And you know as well as I do that I mostly suck at it. So I either need to find a new job, which is unlikely in this economy, or get better at my current job. So I'm trying to get better at being a bounty hunter," I told him.

"You don't suck at it. You're the best I've ever seen at putting together little bits of info to find a skip. You just haven't had the same kind of training that we've had so you don't do as well at the takedowns. But if you are serious about getting better, I'll help you," he said seriously.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Well, you've saved my life twice now, and I figure I owe you," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "But seriously, because I like you. You're fun and you're nice and you've never accused us of being evil thugs or anything like that. Hell, if the rumors are right, you've mostly defended us from those accusations. So I'd be honored to help you."

I thought about it for a minute. Ram had been a Navy SEAL and he was one of the main guys at RangeMan, so I knew he had to be good at his job. And he'd done a good job today at breaking down the moves into understandable segments.

"If you're sure it's not too much of a bother," I said.

"Steph, it's no bother at all. I'd like for you to be safer. We have a dangerous job and anything that can help to make it even a little bit safer is worth it. And I don't really know you all that well, so we'll get to know each other a little bit if we're working together regularly," Ram replied.

"Okay. You convinced me. Just let me know when and where," I told him.

"Well, what are you doing the rest of the day?" he asked.

I checked my watch. "I need to pick up a skip but that's all I had on the agenda for today. Why?"

"Why don't I help you with your skip and then I'll figure out your baseline and design a program for you."

"You're not going to make me run, are you?" I asked suspiciously.

Ram just grinned. "Maybe a little. But I'll buy you dessert once we're done."

"What kind of dessert?"

"We'll take home some tiramisu and stash it in the fridge. And then once you're done with the assessment, you can eat it and make as many noises as you like," he said.

"And you won't tease me about moaning?"

"I promise not to tease you."

"Okay, fine. But don't get any ideas about running. I won't be doing that on a regular basis."

"Fine, I won't put running in as a daily activity," Ram promised.

Then our entrees arrived and I was too busy being blissful to care about running. "This place is great!" I told Ram. "Thanks for bringing me here. It'll be a new place on my favorites list."

Ram grinned. "I'm glad you like it. I just live a few blocks away, so I eat here a lot when I'm not at Haywood."

"You don't live at Haywood all the time?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No. Don't get me wrong, I like the guys, but I also like having some privacy sometimes too. So I own a house a few blocks away and I try to spend as much time there as I can. I have to stay at Haywood when I'm on call, or sometimes if I have a real late shift or a real early shift, but I'm just happier at home, you know?"

I nodded. "I don't think I could stand working and living at the same place."

"Exactly."

We finished eating and stuck with small talk. Ram ordered a triple serving of tiramisu to go and I nearly passed out.

"You're buying me three servings?" I asked.

"No. I'm buying you two and me one. It's really, really good."

I blinked at him in shock. "You eat dessert? What happened to the whole 'my body is my temple' thing?"

Ram shook with laughter. "That's Ranger, not us. Most of us like real food sometimes too. And with as much as we work out, one slice of dessert every now and then isn't going to do anything. For most of us, our muscle mass is such that we have to eat twice as much as a regular person just so we don't lose muscle. But if you want to worship at my temple, the altar is open."

I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Do those lines ever really work?"

"No. Why do you think I'm single?"

"Well those two college girls today wouldn't have cared about your cheesy lines," I teased.

"Holy hell, they were jailbait! And young enough to be my daughters. That's just gross," he complained.

"At least you have some standards," I mused.

"Unlike Santos," he muttered.

I busted out laughing. "Hey, be nice. He's one of my best friends."

"I think the only reason why he's able to handle living and working at Haywood is that he's never in his apartment when he's off duty. He's always at the bar or club or some girl's apartment," Ram said.

"Someone sounds jealous," I teased.

"A little. I have a hard time talking to women like that."

"You don't seem to have any problems talking to me. And contrary to popular opinion, I am a girl."

"You're different. You're special. You already know what I do and it doesn't freak you out," he argued.

"Why would it freak me out? It's not really much different from being a cop, so I don't understand why you guys always say that people treat you differently."

He sighed. "You really are special."

"As in short school bus special?" I teased.

"As in one of a kind, unique in all the universe special," he replied with a grin that flashed his dimples.

"You still didn't answer the question."

"No, not short school bus special. Good special."

"Okay, that's better then."

I thought we were going back to the Y, but he pulled up to a nice ranch style home.

"Wow, this is your place?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Mi casa es su casa, hot stuff."

Ram gave me a quick tour and introduced me to his two doggies, a pair of Labrador retrievers named Magnum, aka Maggie, and Colt. Can you tell Ram's a big gun guy? But they were both adorable and sweet and I fell in love instantly.

Ram lifted me up off the floor once he barked out a command and the giant fluffy balls of happiness backed off so I could sit up.

"Sorry about that, they're usually not so rambunctious," he told me.

"It's fine, they're adorable!" I replied as I bent down to pet them. They seemed to be in seventh heaven and they were practically quivering in joy as they tried to stay still. "And they seem to be pretty well trained. You can tell they want to jump up but they're sitting down like you told them still."

Ram laughed. "They already knocked on you on your ass but you think they're well trained?"

"Do they eat your furniture?"

"No."

"Then compared to Bob, they are exceptionally well trained."

"Bob?"

"Long story, but he's the dog I theoretically share with Morelli. But Bob decided that he liked Joe's house better than my apartment, so he's pretty much Joe's dog now. And he's a pre-historic dog who thinks he's a vacuum cleaner," I explained.

Ram chuckled. "Maggie and Colt are usually pretty well behaved. But they apparently loved you too much to behave."

"I have that affect on people and dogs, I guess," I joked as I dusted off the seat of my yoga pants. "Just as long as they don't try to hump my leg."

Ram laughed. "The dogs or people?"

"Let's go with both. I'm not overly fond of my gun, but I think I could manage to pull the trigger if some wacko nutjob ever tried to hump my leg," I said drily.

Ram shook his head. "I'll keep that in mind. And we'll work on getting you more comfortable with your gun, too."

"As long as you accept that I'm never going to be like you guys and have a long-term love affair with my gun," I warned.

"Actually, Steph, my longest relationship probably has been with my gun, but I promise to not expect the same for you. I'm pretty sure dessert is at the top of your love affair list."

"Damn skippy!"

Once the dogs seemed to settle down a little bit, Ram took me on a quick tour of his house. It was nice and I tried not to sound too jealous, but I think I failed, at least judging by the size of his smile.

When we made it to his basement, I groaned. It was set up as a large gym mostly and I knew he was going to make my ass come here on a regular basis since I'd accepted his offer to help me with self-defense.

Ram smiled widely and dragged me over to the part of the gym that was well padded. "Really? A padded room? There something I should know about you?" I asked.

Ram just shook his head at me. "Just trying not to get hurt or hurt anyone when sparring," he replied.

"Do you work out with the guys here often?" I asked as he started pulling on pads.

"Not terribly often, but enough that I figured it was best to be prepared. And I'm a black belt in tae kwon do, so I have to practice regularly, and being on the padded floor makes it much easier if I miss a jump or something," he said.

"Wow, did you just admit that you aren't perfect?"

Ram's blue eyes grew serious. "No, I'm not perfect. I'm not even close. None of us are. We've just had a lot more training at this than you have, but you do pretty damn awesome given how little actual training you've had on the physical side of things," he said. "Your capture rate is pretty close to 100%, which is almost unheard of in this business."

"It's not 100% though," I argued.

"There will always be skips who can't be found because they head to Tahiti or something. I don't know of any skip tracer who does this for more than a few months with as good of a capture rate as you have," Ram argued in return.

I shrugged. "You guys have to help me sometimes."

"And you help us sometimes."

"Like when?"

"Like when you figure out the clues and tell us where to pick up the skip. Or when you do a distraction and get the skip out of the bar or whatever without risking any of the civilians in the crowd. That helps us to do our job more than you'll probably every know," Ram said in a 'don't argue with me' voice.

"I never thought of it like that," I mused.

"We do. And that's why none of us ever object to helping you out. Frankly, you should probably call for help way more often than you do. You put everyone into a blind panic when we hear about your car going boom or something happening to you," Ram said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really. You worry about us, so why can't we worry about you?"

I shrugged. "I guess no one's ever really worried about me. Yelled at me, yeah, but it's just you guys who show up and ask if I'm okay. Joe would just scream at me and the other cops would start exchanging money before checking to see that I wasn't dead first."

Ram pulled me into a hug that was completely unexpected but not at all unpleasant. "I always worry about you, Steph," he told me. "And if you need me to have a conversation with the Trenton PD about their unprofessional behavior, I'll be happy to put the fear of God in them."

I grinned at the thought. He probably could scare the shit out of most of the cops I knew. Maybe not Joe, but Eddie, Carl, Big Dog, all those guys would definitely not want to be on his bad side. Heck, I didn't want to be on his bad side and I considered him a friend!

I smiled and squeezed his waist before stepping back. "Okay, so what's the plan, man?" I asked.

Ram smiled his toothpaste ad smile at me. "Well, I figured I'd try to get an idea of where you're at on the self-defense spectrum. We can do the physical fitness assessment when your stomach is empty."

"Good plan. Puking all over your basement wasn't on my to do list for today," I told him. He smiled and shook his head. Guess it wasn't on his either.

I spent a while trying to avoid being flung around with only marginal success. I finally dropped Ram to his knees when my knee made the acquaintance of his little friend.

I dropped to the mats beside him. "Ohmigod, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" I'd tried to pull the kick but I was tired and I hadn't quite managed to pull my knee back fast enough.

He held up his hand to stop me and I sat back in silence while he took a moment. After a minute, he let out a breath and rocked back to sit cross-legged on the floor. "Well, I'm glad I was wearing a cup," he finally said with a crooked smile.

I hung my head. "I'm sorry."

Ram reached over and forced my chin up so I had to look at him. "Don't worry about it. That's why I'm wearing the protective gear."

"I'm still sorry."

He shook his head. "Now I know why they joke about registering your knee as a lethal weapon. I was expecting the move but you were so fast that you caught me by surprise. So that will get you out of most sticky situations pretty quickly, at least if it's a man who has you."

I smirked at him. "It's been pretty successful so far," I told him.

We went through a few more moves before Ram offered to help me pick up my skip. I tried to demure, but he insisted.

It was much easier to convince Samuel Malone to come with me when I had a 6'4" mountain of a man with muscles on top of muscles standing behind me with his hand on his gun. Sam just locked the door and let me slap the cuffs on him as I led him to the truck.

Once we picked up my car from the Y, we went back to Ram's house and he had me do a timed run on his treadmill followed by pushups and sit ups. I take back every nice thing I ever thought about him, he was evil!

"Not bad at all," Ram said as he noted my stats in a notebook. "As much as you complain about exercise, I really thought it would be much worse."

"Bobby's got me set up with a couple of Wii dancing games and a workout trainer game," I told him. "So I spend about an hour most days doing a dancing game. And I do the muscle training things a couple of days a week."

"Well, you're doing pretty awesome, hot stuff," Ram told me with a grin. "Keep up with that workout and I'll try to come up with some fun workouts that will change it up a little. If you do the same thing all the time, your body will get used to it and it won't work as hard. So you need a little variety."

"As long as you don't expect me to run ten miles with you guys every day!"

He shot me a toothpaste grin and I felt my knees weaken slightly. "Not _every_ day," he said.

I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled.

"Feed me, Seymour," I demanded and his grin widened to include those adorable dimples.

"Ma'am, yes ma'am," he said with a salute as he turned on his heel and marched up the stairs towards the kitchen.

"Smartass," I muttered.

I heard him chuckle from in front of me. "Takes one to know one, hot stuff."

"What are you? Seven?" I countered.

"Thirty-three, actually," he replied.

"Well, citing 'takes one to know one' as an argument would significantly lower your emotional age," I told him as I tried to hide a grin. He shook his head and continued his rapid pace up the stairs. I tried to keep up since I was afraid he'd eat all the tiramisu by himself.

He didn't try to eat all of my tiramisu, but he did take one serving for himself as he'd promised. I was still in shock to see a man in black voluntarily eat dessert, but I was too excited by the prospect of my own dessert to say much.

True to his word, he didn't tease me for my sound effects, he just grinned at me with his eyes sparkling. "Glad you like it," he said with a wink.

I nearly choked on my dessert. Did he just wink at me?

"Did you just wink at me?"

"Yep. What of it?" he replied cheekily.

"Just don't think I've ever see you so laid back."

"Hard to be laid back when you're working and you do what we do," he said with a shrug. "But when I'm off the clock, I do try to pry the stick out of my ass and just relax."

I had to laugh, which made him grin at me. "You're very cool when you're stickless," I told him.

He grinned wider. "Noted."

After eating dessert, Ram and I hung out watching movies until the voracious beast that lives in my stomach started growling. Ram looked over and shot me the toothpaste grin. "Should I be afraid?"

"Terrified."

Ram just pulled me to my feet. Then he turned and headed towards his kitchen. I followed out of confusion, hunger, and frankly, the desire to keep his ass in view for as long as possible. It was a lovely view.

He sautéed some chicken breasts and veggies in some olive oil and herbs while boiling some pasta. The pasta sauce was jarred, which my mom would have considered sacrilege, but I considered tasty.

"Damn, how are you not married?" I asked as I chowed down on the meal of chicken, veggies and pasta.

He grinned. "No other woman could compare to my first wife."

"You were married?" I asked in surprise. We'd talked quite a bit earlier, but he'd never mentioned being married.

"Yeah, it was short, but it left a big impact on me."

"What happened?"

"They let me out of the hospital and you left me, hot stuff. Broke my heart."

I threw a napkin at him and laughed. "I'm serious!"

He grinned, his blue eyes twinkling. "Relationships are hard when you're active duty Special Operations. You're gone so much of the time, and it's usually on short notice and you can't tell people where you're going or for how long. That's hard on family, and hell on relationships. I dated some, but it ended never working out. I have a whole collection of 'Dear John' letters that girls sent me when they got tired of waiting for me to come back from a deployment."

Damn, that sucks. Stupid bitches. "That must have sucked."

He shrugged. "Yeah."

"What about since you've been out?" Curious George hadn't been my favorite character as a kid for nothing.

I got a half smile. "You can shine it up however you want, but basically, we're mercenaries. Most women, the women I'd like, at least, don't exactly find that appealing. They either see us as walking sex toys or scary thugs to be avoided at all costs. Not a whole lot of decent women want to spend time with a man who's always got at least three guns on his body."

I was getting pissed. "I want names."

"What?"

"Names. I want names of the women who've treated you like thugs. I'll have a little chat with them, teach them the error of their ways. They don't get to treat my friends like that!" I was pissed.

Ram smiled at me. "We're your friends?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Duh! Les and Bobby are two of my best friends, but yeah, all the rest of you guys are my friends, too! Well, I'd like to think so. I mean, I think of you guys as friends, at least."

He must have caught the unsure tone. "Steph, we all think of you as a friend. We just didn't know if you thought of us that way or not."

"What would make you think I didn't?" I asked with genuine interest. If they didn't know that I considered them my friends, I needed to work on things.

"Nothing. Just hard to believe that a sweet girl like you would want to be our friend, I guess," he finally admitted.

I smacked him. "Sweet?"

He laughed. "Yeah, you're sweet. You can try to deny it all you want, but you are. You came to the hospital to check on me, spent the whole night sitting by my bedside just to make sure I was okay and wasn't alone. That's sweet."

I made a face and he grinned. I didn't really think of myself as sweet. Sassy, maybe, sarcastic, for sure, but not so much sweet.

"Think about how much sugar you eat. How could you not be sweet?" he asked.

Hmm. Good point.

He grinned at the look on my face, and I had to laugh at the look of utter male satisfaction.

We hung out a bit longer until I started yawning. I headed home with a grin on my face from laughing so much.

Who'd have thought that stoic, silent Ram could be so much fun?

_**Author's note:**__ I'll be out of town most of the week at a conference, so I doubt I'll be able to update until next week. However, to make up for it, I've given you an extra-long chapter this time! I hope you enjoyed it – please let me know what you think._

_Thanks to everyone who's left a review or sent a private message! They mean so much to me. If you left a guest review or have private messages disabled, please know how much I appreciate them!_

_Please review, I love them like Steph does the day after Halloween candy sales. _


	7. Splish splash

_**Chapter 7**_

After that day, I started hanging out with Ram more often. Since my schedule was pretty flexible as a freelance bounty hunter, I'd come to his house whenever he had free time and was willing to work with me on self-defense stuff. And he was willing to work with me a lot.

And what started out as mostly as professional arrangement with a bit of friendship on the side rapidly became a whole lot of friendship during working out. He made working out a lot more fun than even Ranger, because not only did I get to stare at his ass in tight little running shorts, but he told me stories about his time in the military and growing up. Time flew while we were together, and it got to the point where I was sad to have to leave. Maggie and Colt were the most adorable dogs ever, and I could get into jogging (okay, very fast walking) if I had them to keep me entertained along with Ram's hypnotic ass for eye candy.

I checked in Les and Bobby some, but they were so busy trying to keep RangeMan running that we barely even spoke. I hadn't seen them except in passing, and that was usually just for a couple of minutes at a time.

I missed my buddies.

But my new self-defense training and my somewhat improved physical condition was helping me to nab my skips a little easier. I hadn't rolled in trash in several weeks now, and I was able to chase down even the most reluctant skips and drag them kicking and screaming back to my POS car.

Lula was riding shotgun with one day, since Joyce Barnyard was in with Vinnie making all kinds of disgusting sounds and she needed out of the office, and I ended up chasing a skip for almost 12 blocks before I finally caught him. It took Lula five minutes to catch up with us, huffing and puffing like the little engine that couldn't, while I had the skip lying on the ground on in the fetal position with his hands already cuffed behind him.

"Damn, whit girl," she huffed, "how'd you keep up like that?"

I smiled in satisfaction. "I've been jogging a little."

"Damn." Lula put her hands on her knees and bent forward. Thank God she was wearing more modest clothes, for her, or she'd have been giving me and the world a view that I don't think anyone was ready to see.

Once Lula got her breath back, I left her in charge of the skip while I walked back the twelve blocks to get my car and come pick him up. He was in a tiny bit of pain from the tackle to take him down and kidney punches I'd used to keep him that way, so I'd be nice and not make him walk that far. Frankly, I couldn't drag him that far and I didn't think he could walk just yet.

Maybe there was something to this working out shit after all.

I preened when I told Ram about this when I called him as soon as I dropped off the hunched over skip at the jail. Ram was suitable impressed with me, and took me out to dinner that night to celebrate. Works for me!

He picked me up once he got off work, and we went back to the little Mediterranean diner and stayed there chatting until they kicked us out when they closed. Ram brought me back to my apartment and insisted on walking me up to the door despite my assurances that there were no killer dust bunnies in residence. He gave me a very long hug. "You did great, Steph. I'm really proud of you."

I lit up like the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. "Really?"

"Yeah. You've always been a good bounty hunter, but I think this extra training is going to make you great. And I can't tell you how damn proud I am of you for asking for help in getting better."

I beamed at him and he grinned at me, dimples and all.

"Good job, gorgeous," Ram reiterated. "Just keep it up and you'll keep getting better!"

I was still basking in the glow of his praise when he left with another hug and a quick kiss against my hair.

"Do you have a swim suit? Not a bikini, but something you could actually swim in?" Ram asked abruptly when he showed up at my apartment to pick me up for our workout several weeks later.

"So you're saying you don't want to see me in a bikini?" I asked with a teasing smile. We'd grown into a very teasing relationship over the last couple of months, and we were always joking around with one another.

Ram stepped into my personal space, so close we were almost, but not quite, touching from the knees up. I had to tip my head back to look up (and up) at him.

"I'd love to see you in a bikini, but that won't work for our workout today," he told me in a slightly husky voice.

"Too bad," I mused as I stepped away. "I bought a really rocking bikini last year on clearance that I haven't had the chance to wear yet."

Ram smiled at me, flashing those glorious dimples. "I promise to take you to the beach as soon as it's warm enough for a bikini."

"I'm going to hold you to that," I told him as I went into my bedroom and started digging through a plastic bin of out of season clothes I pulled off the top shelf of the closet. I finally came up with an old navy blue one-piece with a racer back and threw on my workout clothes over it.

Forty minutes later, we were parking outside the new aquatic center on the outskirts of town. I'd never been there before, but I'd checked the prices online. It was way too expensive for me to join and justify the gas to and from the center.

I turned to look at Ram. "Swimming is a great full body workout," he told me. I knew this.

Ram swiped a card and then we walk through the center, pausing to drop off our belongings in the locker rooms. I met him next to the Olympic-sized pool a minute later.

"Do you know how to swim?" Ram asked. It was hard to concentrate since he only had on a pair of short and tight black swim trucks, but I tried to stuff my tongue back into my mouth.

My throat still wouldn't work, so I just nodded.

"Show me what you've got then," he said as he gestured towards a lane in the shallow end.

I ignored his hand and walked to one of the lanes farther down, where the water was deeper, and situated myself on the side. I took a deep breath and dove in, stroking under the water as long as possible before the whole lack of oxygen became a problem. Then I breached the surface, sucked in a deep breath and went into a breaststroke. When I reached the end of the lane, I went back underwater and did a racing turn, kicking off again from the wall. I was back at the starting point with just a few more moments of swimming.

I slapped my hand against the wall out of habit and then looked up to see Ram standing there with his jaw hanging down.

"Hot damn, Bomber! How'd you learn to swim like that?" came from my left. I turned to see Cal and Binkie staring at me in awe. I must have been really focused on Ram's chiseled chest to have missed seeing them. They weren't exactly easy to miss.

"Hi guys. I was on the swim team in high school and college. I haven't gone swimming in so long that it will take some time for me to work out the mechanics again, but it's like riding a bike. You don't forget the basics," I told them.

"Why'd you stop swimming?" Cal asked.

I shrugged. "Too far away from an athletic pool and then it was too expensive once I started working for Vinnie. Plus I'd gotten tired of it after swimming pretty much every day for over ten years."

I looked over when Ram slipped into the lane with me with barely a splash. "I thought I'd have to start with the fundamentals, but I think all I need to do is keep an eye on the time," Ram said as he shook his head.

"What made you think I couldn't swim?"

"You never mentioned it," Ram said.

"I never mentioned it because it wasn't really an option. You can't really swim at most pools during the summer because you're trying to dodge little kids doing cannonballs. And joining these clubs with Olympic-sized pools is freaking expensive when the school system isn't helping to subsidize it, so I couldn't afford it. No point in complaining about things I can't change," I told him.

He shook his head slightly again. "Well, now that I know you can swim and you like to swim, you have no excuse for not hitting the pool regularly."

"The expense isn't something I can cover right now. Sorry," I told him as I flipped over to float on my back, assuming the conversation was over.

Ram loomed above me and I lifted my head just enough so my ears weren't still under water.

"Don't worry about the expense. Spouses and domestic partners are included in the membership, so we'll just add you to my membership account so you can come anytime, whether I'm with you or not," he replied.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Don't argue about this. I already pay for the membership, so you using the free family pass doesn't cost me anything extra at all," he said implacably. "And it's a great workout. And you seemed to be enjoying yourself."

I smiled. It had been years since I'd just floated blissfully in the water. I was enjoying myself.

"Okay, enough slacking off!" Ram barked. "I'll time you, ten laps freestyle."

I groaned, slipped underwater to do a quick backflip before emerging standing next to the wall. I got into position and waited for him to nod.

Once he did, I pushed off the wall and started swimming at a pretty fast pace. I didn't think I could keep it up indefinitely, but hopefully I'd be able to pace myself. I was woefully out of practice at that.

Ram counted out the number of laps as I did turns off the wall next to him. I slapped the wall after my tenth lap and collapsed backwards to lean against the wall of the pool.

"Damn, Steph, that was great!" he said. I looked up at him and smiled.

Cal and Binkie were still standing in the next lane watching me. "Yeah, angel, you did great!" Cal added. "You're like a SEAL's wet dream!"

I smirked at him. "Well, the wet part is right!" I retorted.

All three of them groaned. "What? I'm in a pool?" I said as I pretended naïveté.

I got a couple of eye rolls and I grinned at them.

"I won a few medals back in the day," I admitted. "I used to be okay at swimming."

"Still are, sweetheart," Ram retorted. "And how the hell can you hold your breath that long? At one point, you didn't surface until you were almost to the other side of the pool, which is damn impressive by any standard."

I had to giggle at his incredulous tone. "Dude, when you roll in as much stinky shit as I do, you learn to hold your breath out of self-preservation."

Cal and Binkie roared with laughter and Ram just shook his head. "That's almost crazy enough to make sense," Ram admitted.

I grinned and he smiled back at me, flashing those amazingly beautiful dimples. "Okay, enough goofing off. Back to swimming!" he ordered.

I rolled my eyes. "Fine, but no fair just staring at me. If I have to work out, you guys do too!"

Ram chuckled and then ducked under the buoys to the next lane. "Just swim today. We can work on refining mechanics next time," he told me before he pushed off the wall with a powerful surge and cut through the water like a dolphin.

I have to tell you though, watching Flipper never made my heart race like watching Ram did.

I smiled to myself and then pushed off. I spent the better part of the next hour practicing different strokes. I went through pretty much all of my repertoire: backstroke, front crawl, breaststroke, sidestroke, and every other one that I could recall. I think I even threw in a bit of a dog paddle just for fun.

By the time Ram motioned for me to come out of the pool, my arms and legs felt like rubber and I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk back to the locker room. Damn, I'd forgotten what a great workout swimming was.

I came to the edge, looked at it and then decided I didn't have enough strength left to propel myself out of the water so I started heading towards the ladder at the end of the pool. Ram chuckled and I shot him a death glare, but it didn't seem to have any impact on him. Jerk.

I hauled my tired ass out of the water and stood still for a moment to let my legs get used to regular gravity again. Ram slung one arm around my shoulder and pulled me against his side.

"You did great, Steph," he told me as we meandered slowly towards the locker rooms. "That was awesome."

I beamed in happiness. "Thanks. And thanks for bringing me here, I haven't really gone swimming in years and it was fun!"

Ram tweaked one of the wet curls that had escaped from my ponytail. "No problem. I love swimming and it's a great total body workout, so we can add swimming to your workout schedule." Then his smile grew wicked. "And all the guys will be insanely jealous that I get to see you in a bathing suit a couple of times a week."

I groaned, but he just laughed. "I'll bring my camera next time to get a few pictures of you in action. It'll make the Army guys nuts that you're obviously a Navy kind of girl."

"What makes you think I'm a Navy girl?" I asked.

"Kid, I've trained SEAL candidates who weren't as naturally good in the water as you are," he told me.

"Well, gramps, I was always good in the water," I said with a flirty smile as I sauntered away. "And if you're a good little boy, I might show you one day."

I heard him laughing behind me but I just continued on into the girls' locker room. I figured I was safe enough there.

I met him by the door ten minutes later once I rinsed the chlorine and pool chemicals out of my hair and off of my body. My hair was still wet since the little hair dryers attached to the wall of the locker room weren't remotely powerful enough to tame my wild hair, but I figured I was at least presentable.

Ram was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, making his biceps look freaking huge in his faded blue t-shirt.

"There's my little fish," Ram said as he saw me. "I was starting to think you drowned in the shower."

"Bite me, Ramsey," I told him. "I'm a girl and I have about a hundred times more hair to wash than you do, so suck it up."

He just smiled at me and I fell into step next to him. "So I already added your name to my membership. You'll need to stop by the front desk today or the next time you come to get your picture taken and a permanent card made for you."

"You don't have to do that," I protested.

"Steph, stop. The additional membership is free and I'd like to know that you'll be able to come and get in some water time even if I'm not around. So just say thank you and move on," he ordered.

"You're really bossy, did you know that?" I complained.

He smirked at me. "Years of command, sweetheart. You can't turn that off."

I rolled my eyes at him. "As long as you understand that I'm not one of your sailor boys and I don't take orders."

His voice dropped half an octave. "Trust me, I have definitely noticed that you're not a sailor boy."

I froze for a second before tilting my head to look at him through my eyelashes. "Just realized I'm a girl, have you?" I queried.

He busted out laughing. "I already knew it, but it's kind of hard to miss when you're in a wet, clingy bathing suit."

"Just a wee bit."

Ram insisted on taking me out to dinner to celebrate my watery victory, and who am I to object? Free food with a hot guy is always fun in my book.

_**Author's note: **__And here's the next chapter! Thanks for the reviews of the previous chapter – I haven't been able to respond yet because I was away at the conference (Boston was such fun!) and then getting ready for the Thanksgiving holiday, but I appreciate them all and will respond as soon as I can. _

_I hope all of my American friends had a great Thanksgiving and happy shopping if you were brave enough to hit the stores for Black Friday. I was not. I might go out today. What would we call today? Dark grey Saturday? The deals aren't quite as good, but neither are the crowds as insane. We did the whole midnight on Black Friday thing last year for some electronics, and I thought the city had collectively lost its' mind. Sheer insanity!_

_Please let me know what you think of this chapter! It'll take my mind of the fact that there's still half of a freakin' turkey to be eaten. And I hate leftovers!_


	8. A friendly conversation

_**Chapter 8**_

When we got back to my apartment, Ram walked me to my door as I happily breathed in the scent of the leftover sausage alfredo in my to go box. I knew what lunch would be tomorrow, and I was going to be a very happy girl.

Ram went in the apartment in front of me, and I was startled when he pulled his gun with his right hand and shoved me behind him with his left arm.

"What the hell?" I asked as I peered around him. Lester was stretched out on my couch, oblivious to the world.

Ram re-holstered his weapon and let out a breath. "Were you expecting company?" Ram asked softly.

I shook my head no. "I haven't seen him in a week, guess he wanted to check on me. I know it's been really busy at the office for him."

Ram nudged me out the door and we stood in the hallway. "You okay with him here or you want me to wake him up?"

"Oh no, it's fine. And he looks so peaceful sleeping, so just let him sleep for a while," I told Ram.

Ram nodded. "Yeah, he's been pulling a lot of doubles with Ranger gone and a couple of the other guys out for various reasons. I'll have a chat with him tomorrow about me picking up a few more shifts until some of the guys are back. He can't keep burning the candle at both ends like this."

I ran my hand through Ram's hair. "You're a nice guy."

His eyes had closed as my fingers tunneled through his hair, but they popped open at my comment.

"Yes, you are," I countered when it looked like he was about to protest. "Don't try to deny it. You're helping me out with stuff to be nice and you're willing to pick up more shifts to help out Les. That's called being a nice guy."

"Don't think I'm completely altruistic," Ram warned. "I'll get paid for picking up more shifts, I won't be doing it for free."

"You're not getting paid to help me get better," I argued.

"I am. Just not with money."

I tilted my head to study him. "What's that mean?"

He shrugged. "I'm getting to spend time with you. And I like it."

I paused for a second to consider his words. "I like it too."

He studied me for a minute. "Like how you like hanging out with Santos?"

I bit my lip. "No," I admitted softly. "It's different."

"How?" he pressed as he stepped closer to me.

I shrugged and dropped my gaze to his throat. Ram used the knuckles of his left hand to make me look at him. "When you figure out why it's different, you let me know." Then he was gone.

I stood outside my door for a minute to gather my scattered thoughts before I went back into my apartment. Les was still stretched out on my couch, sleeping peacefully. I put my leftovers in the fridge and then snagged my laptop before I headed into the bedroom. Les looked exhausted and I wanted to let him sleep as long as possible.

Of course, after working out for an hour followed by a decadent meal, I started to get sleepy too, so I only made it a little while before I fell asleep too.

I woke up two hours later and peeked into the living room to see Les still sprawled on my couch. He must be really tired to sleep that long on my uncomfortable couch. It wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't long enough for a big guy like Les to fit comfortably unless he was truly out of it.

I watched him breathing slowly for a minute just to make sure he wasn't dead before I headed into the bathroom to take care of business. I tried my best to be quiet, but I guess I'd been noisy enough to wake him up since he was sitting up and rubbing his eyes when I walked back out.

I walked over and hugged him. He just looked like he needed a hug.

"Hey," I said softly as he stretched out the kinks from sleeping so long on my couch. "What's up?"

"How long have you been here?" Les asked.

"Couple of hours. You looked like you could use the sleep, so I just let you rest."

Les stood and bent over, his ass in my face, as he stretched. His pants slipped down slightly as he bent over and I could see that he was also a commando man.

"I see London, I see France, I see Les has no underpants," I teased.

He laughed and looked over his shoulder to shoot the famous Santos crooked grin at me. "Saves time, baby, when time is of the essence."

I rolled my eyes at him and he flopped down next to me. He started sniffing my hair and I looked at him like he was an idiot as I tried to edge away. Had the lack of sleep finally pushed him over the edge?

"Chlorine?" he finally asked.

I nodded, relieved that he hadn't actually gone nuts. "Ram took me swimming."

"You swim?"

"Yep. I was on the swim team back in high school and college. I actually won a few medals back in the day."

I was amused when his jaw dropped open. "Holy shit, really?" Les asked.

"Yep."

"Damn, Beautiful! Why didn't you ever tell us this?"

"No one ever asked, and I hadn't been swimming in years. But Ram decided he would teach me to swim as a workout. This was before I shocked his ass by diving in and taking off."

I beamed and Les laughed. "Liked surprising him, did you?"

I figured it was a rhetorical question so I ignored it.

"So you're spending a lot of time with him. Anything you need to tell Uncle Les?" Les asked as he waggled his eyebrows at me.

I bit my lip and Les's face shifted from laughing to serious. "Steph? What is it?"

"I like him," I blurted out.

Les grinned at me. "I can tell."

I bit my lip harder and looked down for a minute until Les shifted to wrap one arm around me. "And what does Ram say?"

I shrugged. "We haven't really talked about it. But he's been helping me out with self-defense and stuff for a while now, and I've been spending a lot of time with him. And the more I get to know him, the more I like him."

"You've been doing self-defense training with him? Why not ask me?" Les asked, looking a little hurt that I hadn't asked him for help.

"You guys have been so busy. I know you would have done it but you've had almost no free time lately as it is and I didn't want to take away what little down time you've had," I explained quickly.

"So why Ram?" he asked, looking only slightly mollified.

"Fate, I guess," I said before I explained about the self-defense class at the Y.

"I think the universe is trying to tell you something, Beautiful," Les kidded. "First you married the man and then he ended up your teacher. Has to be something to that."

I just shrugged. "Things have been getting kind of flirty with us," I admitted to Les. "But I don't know what that means."

"Well, it probably means that Ram thinks you're hot. No surprise, we all do." I rolled my eyes. "I'm serious," he continued. "You're beautiful on the outside but you're also a great person and just as beautiful on the inside too. That's why my name for you is Beautiful."

I tilted my head to look at him. "You really think so?"

He kissed my forehead. "Absolutely. And I wish I was to a point in my life where I might be ready to settle down, if that is ever going to happen. You wouldn't have to worry about Ram being flirty if I was. You'd be with me, no question. But I'm not there yet and it's not fair to ask you to wait for something that might never happen. But for the record, I wish I was."

My jaw was hanging open as I blinked in shock. "What?" I finally squeaked.

Les threw his head back and laughed at my shock. "You already knew I love you, Beautiful."

"Yeah, but not like that!"

"It could be like that if I just let myself. But I know I'm not ready to settle down yet and I know you're not the kind of girl who can do casual. But sometimes I wish it could be."

I was completely shocked. Yeah, Les joked around with me, but I never had any idea that he thought of me as anything more than a friend. Okay, a friend he would like to occasionally be extra friendly with, if you get my meaning, but I always assumed it was just pure teasing.

Les laughed and used his knuckles to push my jaw up. "Breathe, Beautiful. I love you too much as a friend to risk ruining our friendship, so you don't have to worry about me."

I finally started breathing again. "Holy crap, Les!"

He smiled at me. "If I ever do grow up and decide to settle down and you're still single, all bets are off. But if you like Ram and he likes you, then I say go for it. I'll just make sure he knows that that if he does something to hurt you, his ass is mine."

I shook my head at his words. "You're getting way ahead of yourself. We're just hanging out and getting to know each other right now."

"So keep getting to know him. I've known Ram a lot of years and he's a good guy. I can see you two together. He's a much more settled kind of guy than Bobby and me. Hell, he's already got the house and two dogs. But I can't see him ever trying to force you to change like Morelli did. So it's a good match."

I flopped over and buried my head in the pillow. "I don't know."

I felt Les rubbing my back. "What don't you know, Beautiful?"

I blew out a sigh. "I haven't exactly had much success with guys, you know. Hell, I don't even know what the heck I did to make Ranger hate me!"

Les stretched out behind me and pulled me into his arms. I fought the tears that threatened to fall. I refused to cry any more for Ranger. I don't know what his problem is, but it's not my problem.

"Ranger's got his panties in a twist, and none of us know why. But you didn't do anything wrong. Anyone who knows him, and I probably know my cousin best of all, knows that he's just not normal when it comes to women. So don't you worry about his idiotic ass. You just do what feels right for you. And if he doesn't like it, well he can just damn well suck it up. We all got your back, Beautiful," he told me as he rubbed my back gently.

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Thanks. I'm trying to not let my past influence things too much, but hell, Les, every relationship I've ever had ended up biting me in the ass. Joe back in high school, the Dick, Joe again and finally this shit with Ranger. It's hard to trust myself now."

"Just try to trust Ram a little too. I've known him for almost a dozen years and he's always been a straight up guy. So if you think there's the potential for something with Ram, I think you owe it to yourself to try," Les said against my hair.

"I'll think about it," I told Les finally. I figured he wasn't going to let it go until I agreed. He's like a pit bull sometimes.

Les never responded and I wiggled around slowly until I could see his face. His eyes were closed and his lips were partially open as he breathed slowly and steadily. He'd fallen back asleep mid-conversation.

I nudged him gently until his green eyes opened slowly. He blinked a few times before they finally focused on me. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"Come on, let's go to bed," I told Les.

He sat up and pushed a hand through his hair. "I'll head out."

"Nope. You're clearly way past exhausted. So come on, it's sleepy time." I pulled him to his feet and he stood up much more slowly that usual. That as much as anything convinced me of how tired he was.

"Call the control room, tell them you're completely off line except for life or death," I ordered. Les flashed me a quick grin before he pulled his cell phone off of his belt and typed furiously for a second.

"Any other commands, Beautiful?" Les asked with a half grin and a half-assed salute that would have landed him doing push up for days if he'd tried that back in the Army.

I stuck my tongue out at him. "If you really want, you can clean my bathroom," I offered.

He just chuckled and shook his head. "I'm too damn tired."

"Give me a second to get you a clean towel. And I think I have an extra toothbrush, too," I told him. "Be right back!"

As promised, I was back in a minute and Les was already shucking his boots. "All yours!" I called out.

"You have any clothes I can borrow?" Les asked. "As you already pointed out, there's nothing but me under my cargos."

Holy hot flash! Les laughed at the expression on my face, and I shook my head to get that mental image out.

I rolled my eyes. "I'll look for something while you get ready for bed," I promised. I fanned myself with my hand once I heard the door click.

I dug frantically through my drawer until I found a pair of pale blue Frosty the snowman novelty boxers that I'd bought to wear to bed during an after Christmas sale last year, but they'd stretched out quite a bit and were too big for me now. I'd stolen lots of shirts from both Ranger and Joe over the years, so I had a wide assortment of those available.

I knocked on the bathroom door and it swung open almost immediately. I kept my eyes closed and thrust the clothes towards the opening in the door. Les took the bundle out of my hands and I didn't reopen my eyes until I heard the door close again.

Phew. Even though he was one of my best friends, there was no denying that the man was walking sex appeal.

Les ambled out a minute later and I couldn't help but laugh as he tried to look cool in my snowman boxers. "Laugh again and the boxers come off," he threatened. He was not wearing a shirt, and he looked hot enough to melt poor Frosty.

I bit back my chuckles and put my head down as I walked towards the bathroom for my own nightly ablutions.

When I came back out, Les was already sprawled on his back asleep, snoring ever so slightly with each exhalation. It was cute, and it made me feel like the big-hearted Grinch that he trusted me that much. Les was the most open and friendly of the guys, but all of the Merry Men were super cautious and lethal.

I crawled in next to Les, wrestled a bit of blanket from him to cover up with and turned off the lights.

_**Author's note:**__ And now Les knows that things are heating up with Ram! _

_And speaking of heating up… Lester Santos in nothing but some Frosty boxers. Santa, that's what I want for Christmas, please. I've been a very good girl this year! _

_Please let me know what you think of this chapter! I truly appreciate all of your reviews! So thanks for leaving them, especially the guest and anonymous reviewers to whom I can't respond directly._


	9. A serious conversation

_**Chapter 9**_

I woke up the next morning sprawled all over Les. When I finally pried my eyes open, laughing green eyes were watching me.

"Hey," I murmured as I stretched like a cat, my eyes drifting closed.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Les said with a grin.

I opened my eyes again and studied his face. There were still dark smudges under his eyes, but they weren't as dark. "You're looking better," I told him.

"You're looking pretty damn good, too," he said in a husky voice.

I rolled my eyes and then rolled off of his chest. "You don't look as tired as you did yesterday. How'd you sleep?"

"Great! Better than I have in a long time. You must be like human Ambien or something," Les teased.

"If the whole bounty hunter thing doesn't work out, I'll keep that in mind," I said drily.

Les grinned and then rolled out of the bed and stretched. I closed my eyes to keep from drooling at the sight of acres of honey hued muscles flexing sinuously above my snowman boxers.

Lucky boxers.

I opened my eyes when I heard Les swear in shock. "What's wrong?" I asked in alarm.

He looked at me and shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. But I got to your apartment almost sixteen hours ago!"

"And what's the prob, Bob?"

"I slept almost that entire time!" he exclaimed.

"Then you were obviously tired," I tried to reason.

He simply shook his head in shock. "Guess so," he finally murmured. Then he took two steps closer and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Thanks for taking care of me. I'd have left and gone back to work except you made me go off-line."

"You have my back, I have your back," I told him as I kissed his cheek. "That's what friends do."

"Well, this friend is taking you out to breakfast. I feel better than I have since before he-who-shall-not-be-named lost his freaking mind!"

I winked at him. "What's Lord Voldemort got to do with this?"

Les just smiled and picked me up out of the bed. "Go start the coffee while I use your bathroom," he said as sat me down and swatted me none too gently on the rear.

I pouted at him and headed into the living room. I started the coffee, fed Rex and checked my cell phone for messages. I had a new text from Ram from this morning.

I decided to call him back while Les was doing things I probably don't want to think about in my bathroom.

"Hey," he answered and I could hear the grin in his voice.

"Hey Ram!" I replied. "I got your message to call. What's up?"

"Just wanted to see if you were up for breakfast," he said casually.

"Les is taking me out to thank me for being his human Ambien," I told him. "But lunch and dinner are both still up for grabs."

There was a pause. "He spent the night," Ram said in a flat tone that I was unaccustomed to hearing from him.

"Yeah, but it was purely platonic. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep while we were talking so I made him call in and go off-line so he could sleep," I hastened to reassure the man who was becoming frighteningly important to me.

"Oh."

"We were actually talking about you when he dozed off mid sentence," I teased.

"What were you saying about me?" he asked suspiciously.

"Les was teasing me about hanging out so much with you."

"And is that a bad thing?"

"Absolutely not. I love spending time with you," I responded.

There was another pause, shorter this time. "Glad to hear it." I had to smile at his tone, pride mixed with confusion.

"So, you want to come over for dinner tonight then?" Ram asked a few seconds later.

"Sure."

"Come over around seven and we'll talk more then," he said.

"Ten-four, red leader. See you then!"

He chuckled and then disconnected. Seriously, I desperately needed to hold a phone manners seminar. Sheesh.

When Les came out of the bathroom wrapped only in one of my el cheapo itty bitty towels, I scampered in so I could take a shower and get ready myself. Twenty minutes later, I came out with my hair still wet but not dripping and only a couple of swipes of mascara.

Les was in the living room drinking coffee already, so I closed the door and got dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

Les took me to IHOP, where I ate my own body weight in pancakes, eggs and sausage. Despite having known me for years, Les was still shocked and awed at the amount of food I was able to pack away. Thank God for a fast Hungarian metabolism.

Les dropped me back off at my apartment and he headed back to Haywood, looking far, far better than he had the day before. I made him promise to make Bobby get some rest too, and told him to come back anytime he needed more human Ambien to get some sleep. He chuckled, tugged on a curl and promised.

I went to the bond's office and hung out with Lula and Connie for a while. I had no new files, so I could keep working on the few outstanding ones I hadn't found yet.

It was a few minutes before seven when I pulled up at Ram's house. I didn't even have to knock on the door before he was pulling it open with a smile. "Hey, gorgeous."

"Hey, Ram," I replied simply. Then I sniffed. "Something smells great!"

His grin widened. "Thanks. Come on in."

I did, stopping to say hello to Maggie and Colt, who were waiting anxiously by the front door to sniff me to make sure I was still me. I guess I passed the test when the started shoving their heads against my hands so I'd pet them.

"You might letting the dogs out into the backyard?" Ram asked as I walked into the kitchen.

I didn't, so I went to the backdoor, and the dogs gleefully followed. The big backyard was enclosed by an eight-foot privacy fence, so they could run and frolic to their hearts' content and still be safe. Colt took off first, but Maggie was hot on his heels.

I was smiling as I closed the door. They amused me greatly.

"Need any help?" I asked. I was getting marginally better in the kitchen thanks to online cooking videos and trial and error (much error), but my cooking skills were still pretty minimal. But I could stir if he asked me to.

"Nope. Go ahead and wash up, it's ready," he said as he transferred food from pans to serving dishes.

I washed the doggie drool off my hands and helped him carry the last bowl of steaming grilled peppers and onions over to the table. Ram already had the steak and baked potatoes sitting on the table and I was _thisclose_ to proposing. If it tasted as good as it looked and smelled, I might.

We shot the shit while we ate, and dinner was every bit as good as it looked and smelled. The poor guy didn't know how close he was to being propositioned. I smirked at the thought of what he'd do if I sank to one knee. Knowing these guys and what horndogs they could be at times, but the thought of having me on my knees would probably be sufficient to get him to agree to anything.

"I don't know what you're thinking about," Ram interrupted, "but that's an evil look on your face right now."

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and grinned at him. "Sorry. Momentary distraction."

"Want to share?"

Not even a little bit. "Nope."

He stared at me with squinty eyes for a few seconds. "Okay."

I finally sat back with a happy sigh. My belly was full and I was with a friend. Life didn't get much better than this.

Ram shot me a grin. "Glad you're happy. And I agree, it doesn't get much better."

Crap. I've got to get a handle on this talking out loud thing.

Ram started picking up the dishes and I jumped up to help. We got the dishes loaded into the dishwasher and then I helped him wash the dirty pans. We had a good time splashing water back and forth at each other, and I ended up fairly damp from my cleaning endeavors. Ram just grinned at me and wiped a bit of soap suds off my nose.

I wrinkled my nose at him and his eyes went from laughing to something softer. He cleared his throat and stepped back.

"Uh, I'll let the dogs in if you'll finish rinsing," he said as he turned away.

I just nodded.

I finished rinsing the few remaining dishes. I turned around when I heard the excited 'woof' behind me and crashed directly into a warm, hard chest.

I staggered back a half-step before hard arms were around me, steadying me. My hands flew up and clutched the back of his arms. What were those muscles called? Bobby had told me. Triceps, I think.

"Steph?" Ram asked in a gravelly voice.

I bit back a moan when his arms tightened, pulling me closer to him, and making the muscles under my hand bunch up. Holy mother of God. I'd never really had a thing for arms before, but that could be changing now.

I finally risked a glance up and found that Ram was staring intently at me. I was caught in his gaze. "You okay?" he asked softly.

I just nodded mutely, swallowing hard.

We just stared at each other for a long few moments before his head tilted towards mine. I met him halfway, pressing my lips to his. I wasn't sure which one of us moaned first, but I know that we were both making happy sounds.

At least I wasn't the only one.

Ram tilted his head to settle his lips more firmly over mine, and I had to cling to him as I felt my knees go a bit weak as his tongue traced my lips. He just tightened his hold on me, pulling me so close to him that any closer and we'd be sharing a liver.

I don't know how long we just kissed. Hell, we'd probably still be kissing if it were up to me, but one of the dogs got impatient with us not paying attention to them and let out a loud bark that made me jump slightly in Ram's embrace.

He pulled back reluctantly and then rested his chin on the top of my head. "Wow."

Um, yeah. Wow works.

"Steph, I think we need to talk."

Oh shit. No woman ever likes to hear those words. I froze and he felt me tense. "No, it's a good talk. I hope," he tried to reassure me.

Then use some other damn words. You don't ever tell a woman 'we need to talk' unless you're breaking up with her!

I let out the breath I didn't realize I was holding and nodded against his shoulder. He stepped back slightly so I could turn and head towards the living room. If this was going to be an awkward conversation, I at least wanted to be comfortable for this.

I sat down gingerly on the edge of the sofa and turned to look at Ram. I expected him to sit at the other end of the sofa like he usually did, but he surprised me by sitting down next to me.

"I'll apologize if I made you uncomfortable," Ram started. "But I've wanted to kiss you for a long time."

I felt both eyebrows climb my forehead. "You have?"

He shot me a disbelieving look. "I didn't think I'd been especially subtle."

I blushed a little. "I figured you were just joking around."

"I don't joke about stuff like this, Steph. It's too important to kid around about," he told me calmly as he brushed back the curls that had escaped from my ponytail and tucked them behind my ear.

"Oh." Wow, I'm such a fantastic conversationalist, aren't I?

He sighed softly. "So now that the cat's out of the bag, where do we go from here?" he asked.

I hazarded a quick look at him. "Where do you want things to go?" I asked. I had my suspicions, but I wanted confirmation.

"I'd like us to start dating. We've got a good foundation of friendship here, and obviously there's a physical attraction if you felt half of what I felt a minute ago," he replied.

I grinned. "I think that's a yes on the attraction thing," I murmured.

"Oh, thank God," he said in relief. "If that was only so-so for you, I was going to have to request a transfer to another office!"

I looked up at his smiling face. "Why's that?"

"Because it damn well blew my mind and my ego couldn't handle if it you didn't feel it!"

I grinned at him. "It blew mine too."

He wrapped an arm around me and tugged me closer. "I'm glad."

I rested my head against his shoulder. "So what would dating you be like?"

He shrugged. "Not all that different from what we've been doing, except that I hope to kiss you as much as you'll let me."

No problems there, I had a feeling his kisses would be as addicting as Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

"That a challenge?" he asked and I could hear the smile in his voice.

Shit. "Sure, why not?" Bad Stephanie challenged back.

I decided it was either a huge mistake or the most brilliant moment of my life when I was suddenly flat on my back on the sofa and Ram was hovering over me. "Good thing I love a challenge," he murmured before practically attacking my lips.

Definitely a brilliant moment.

"So what's the verdict?" he asked a very long time later as he helped me sit back up.

"Huh?"

He just smirked at me. "As good as ice cream?"

I grinned at him. "I don't know. Cherry Garcia is really, really good…" I said as I pretended to consider it.

He growled at me playfully and pulled me into his lap so he could wrap his arms around me.

I sat there, comfortable and content, for several long minutes. Ram finally broke the silence. "So what do you think?"

The tentative tone from the big, strong badass nearly made me to cry. I'd never thought about the fact that I could have such an impact on one of them.

"I think… I think I'd like that," I replied as I turned my head to look him in the eye.

The brilliant smile I got in reply, dimples and all, and the way his blue eyes lit up convinced me that I did have an impact on at least one of the men in black.

"Really?"

I nodded and then he was kissing me with so much intensity and fervor that I forgot to breathe for a minute. Good thing we'd been working on my cardiovascular endurance or I'd have passed out from lack of oxygen long before he let me up for air.

"Steph, I promise you that I will do my best to treat you right," he swore. "I'll never treat you like some of the assholes in your past have."

I lifted my hand to his cheek and he leaned into my touch. I don't think he was even aware of it. "I know you won't. And I'll do my best to treat you right, too."

His eyes popped open at my words. "You already do, sweetheart. I've never known a woman like you before."

I snuggled against his chest at that comment. I didn't quite agree, but I wasn't going to argue with him over it either.

"Les told me I should give things a shot with you," I told him several minutes later.

Ram made a noise of surprise. "What the hell?"

I had to laugh at his tone. "He was teasing me about hanging out so much with you, I told you that."

"Yeah, but I didn't think he'd be on my side!"

I lifted my head to look at him. "Why not? I thought you guys were friends?"

"We are. But he's got a thing for you, too," Ram replied somewhat sourly.

I shook my head. "Nah. Les loves me as a friend and said that if I was still single if and when he ever grew up, all bets would be off then, but he's too much of a player for me and we both know this. So we'll only ever be friends. Really, really good friends, but just friends. He told me to give things a shot with you if I thought there was even a possibility of there being anything more, that you were a really good guy and wouldn't hurt me. He said something about kicking your ass if you did."

Ram winced. "Fair enough. But I can't believe he actually told you to hook up with me."

I frowned. "I was under the impression this was more than just a hook up."

"You know what I mean," he replied.

"No, I think you better clarify that," I said as I put a little distance between us.

"Steph, I'm not looking for just a hook up," he said seriously. "I want the real deal. I want a relationship with you."

I relaxed back against him. "Just checking. Ranger always had this no relationships rule, but he wasn't at all adverse to trying to get into my bed. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page here."

"Yeah, about that," Ram said. "What was the deal with you and Ranger?"

"Can I go with it's complicated?" I tried.

"I really wish you'd trust me with the truth," Ram replied softly. "But I won't force you into telling me something if you aren't comfortable with it just yet."

Damn, he had to pull the trust card. Shit.

I sighed. "Okay, I'll try to explain, but it really is kind of complicated," I cautioned. "And it's private. So this is just between us, okay?"

Ram nodded. So I spent the next while trying to explain the very weird non-relationship between me and Ranger.

Ram was pretty damn pissed when I was done, and I was ready to burst into tears at the thought that he was that mad at me. Or even worse, that I'd disappointed him.

"I'm sorry," I whispered as I tried to climb out of his lap.

"What? Where are you going?" he asked as he tightened his arms around me. "Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry you're so mad at me," I sniffled, holding back tears that threatened.

"Oh, Steph. I'm not mad at you! I'm pissed as hell at Ranger, not you, sweetie! Never at you!"

I stopped my wiggles for escape. "You're not mad at me?"

Ram sighed. "No, sweetheart. He had you all kinds of confused, didn't he?"

I shrugged.

"Please, honey, just be honest. He had you all screwed up."

I nodded. Hell, it was the truth.

"And that's why I'm mad. If he was going to pull some bullshit about not doing relationships, then he should have stayed the fuck away from you like that! He practically blackmailed you into sleeping with you and then told you to fucking fix things with Morelli? What the hell?"

"Not one of my better days."

He snorted. "No, not one of his."

I shrugged. "What's done is done."

"He's still a prick."

I laughed slightly. "No arguments from me."

Ram just stared intently into my eyes. "Stephanie, I promise that I'm not just trying to get into your bed. Do I find you sexy as hell? Yeah. But I'm damn sure not going to pressure you into doing anything you're not completely ready for, okay? This is real for me and I'm sure as hell not going to screw it up by rushing you into sex or anything like that."

I blushed but nodded. "Thanks."

We just sat together for the next hour, talking softly about our day. It really wasn't all that different from previous days except for the fact that I didn't normally sit in Ram's lap. Not that I was complaining, of course. It was an excellent lap.

I finally started to yawn, and Ram walked me to my car and then kissed me senseless. "Drive safely, sweetheart, and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

I blinked a few times to shift my brain back into working order and nodded before I climbed in and drove home.

I tried to tell Rex all about my very eventful night, but he was less than impressed. The carrot I dropped into his cage with some hamster crunchies held his attention far better than my story.

I did fall asleep with a very big grin on my face, though.

_**Author's note:**__ And now they've both admitted that there's more than just friendship here! Woo hoo! Please let me know what you think of this chapter._


	10. Going public

_**Chapter 10**_

I was still smiling when I woke up the next morning. Ram kisses are better than happy pills, that's for sure. Pharmaceutical companies would go out of business if we could isolate whatever was in his kisses that made me feel so euphoric this morning.

Damn.

I got up, got dressed and headed out to drag some skips back to jail.

"Somebody got lucky," Lula declared. "Good for you, girl! Who was it? Sexy Santos?"

"What?" I exclaimed. "I did not!"

"You got that glow," Lula defended. "You get it on with Herbie Horsecock then?"

I was sputtering and stalling, trying to come up with some answer when Ram and Cal walked in. "Ladies," Ram said right before he leaned over and kissed me chastely on the cheek. "Good morning, sweetheart."

"Oh shit! You got lucky with GI Joe!" Lula all but shrieked. "Way to go, white girl! He's hot!"

Cal walked into Connie's desk with a loud crash. "You two… what?" he muttered.

I blushed bright enough that I'm surprised no one got a sunburn and buried my head against Ram's chest, which was shaking with chuckles. "Um, sweetheart? Something I forgot about?" he asked.

"I told you she got lucky!" Lula crowed. "Didn't I tell you?" she asked Connie.

I shook my head. "Lula, please!"

"What?" she asked.

"Stop it, please," I begged.

"Girl, I'd be putting up fliers if I got to sink my teeth into that," Lula said in a confused tone. "So what's the big deal?"

Ram shifted slightly, putting me in between him and Lula. Smart man.

"Shit man, when did this happen?" Cal demanded.

Cal, Connie and Lula were all talking at once now, and I sighed and rubbed at my head where a headache was building from the unrelenting noise.

"Stop."

Wow, one word in _that_ tone from Ram got all three of them to shut up. Cal even snapped to attention.

"It's none of your business, but Stephanie and I have decided to start dating. The specifics of our relationship are not up for discussion, and I do not want to hear that any of you have violated our privacy or trust in you by discussing our personal life. Understood?" Ram continued in a commanding tone that made it clear that their agreement was not optional.

Connie and Lula nodded reluctantly, extremely reluctantly, but even they weren't willing to risk pissing him off.

"Yes, sir," Cal said.

"Thank you," Ram said simply. "Steph, can I take you out for a cup of coffee so we can talk?"

I nodded before snagging my purse and heading out.

I climbed into Ram's SUV silently as he held the door open for me. Five minutes later, he walked out of the Tasty Pastry with two cups and a bag of donuts.

Yeah, I could really fall for him.

I took a sip of my coffee and smiled. It had the perfect amount of cream and sugar.

"So, what happened this morning?" Ram asked after I ate my first Boston crème donut. He really was perfect, he knew I needed caffeine and sugar before conversation.

I shrugged. "No idea, really. I'd barely even said hello before Lula was off on a 'Stephanie got lucky' track, and she's got a one track mind sometimes."

"What made her think that you got lucky last night?" Ram asked.

"Got me. Only thing I can figure is that I did have a hard time wiping the smile off my face this morning, but you know as well I do that I didn't get lucky last night."

He shot me a smug grin. "I'll be happy to fix that whenever you're ready, sweetheart," he said and I felt my face flame again.

"Hey, no pressure," he said when I looked away to try to get my blushing under control. "I was just teasing."

"I know. But I can't help but blush when someone's talking about, um, sex," I told him. "I think that's why Les teases me so much, he likes to see me blush."

Ram nodded. "Do you want to tell him, or want me to?"

"I'll do it. Shouldn't be surprising since he's the one who told me the other night that you're a good guy and I should give us a shot," I told him. Ram nodded.

"We didn't talk about it and I guess it's too late now, but how do you want to handle sharing it with others?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Yeah, too late now. You may be able to convince Cal to keep it quiet, and maybe Connie and Lula for a little bit, but it won't be long before one or the other, or both, lets it slip to someone else. Plus I don't really want to hide it," I admitted.

I got a megawatt grin with both dimples at that admission. "I don't want to hide it either. Hell, I want to hire a damn plane to skywrite it over Trenton!"

I laughed. He was good for my ego.

"Go to dinner at my parents' house," I challenged. "That'll have the same effect but cost less. It'll activate the Burg grapevine and everyone who's anyone in the Burg will know by 8 pm."

"Can you keep your grandma from pinching my ass?"

"I can try, but I can make no promises."

He winced. "Okay. Just tell me when."

I nodded. "I'll check with my mom, but probably one day this weekend if you're free."

"I'm off on Saturday," he offered. "Maybe we could spend the day together before we go to dinner."

I just nodded. That sounded good to me.

"Okay, let me know if that'll work then. Do you think we'll be able to keep it quiet for three days then?" he asked.

I shook my head. Poor naïve boy. "Probably not, but miracles do happen. Depends on how scared of you Connie and Lula are, and what I can come up with to bribe them with."

He shook his head. "Should I try to scare them more?"

"Nah. I think you already did a pretty damn good job."

He smirked. "Alright, much as I really rather spend the time with you instead of having Cal try to get details out of me, I should get back to work."

I nodded and he put the SUV into drive and took us back to the office. Before he got out, he leaned across the console for a quick but highly effective kiss. "Can I bring dinner over tonight once I'm off shift?"

I released the grip I had on his shirt. "Yeah."

"I'll call you when I'm off and we can discuss what we want, okay?"

I nodded and he jumped out and jogged over to my side of the SUV. We headed back into the office, where it went instantly quiet. Yeah, they weren't talking about us.

Ram's blank face was up and he leveled a menacing look at Lula and Connie before looking at Cal. "Let's roll."

Cal instantly followed Ram out the door.

Lula and Connie stared after them for a minute. I did too. He had a really fabulous ass, and it was always worth a second look.

"Spill," Connie said once they were gone.

I shook my head. "Just like he said, we talked last night and decided to start dating. That's it."

Connie shook her head. "So you just ran into in the grocery store and decided in the produce section to start dating? Nuh-uh. Details, I need details!"

"No. We've been hanging out a lot lately, he's been helping me with getting in better shape and self-defense training and everything, and it just grew from that. And that's all the detail you're going to get. My private life is private, and just for once, pretty please, keep this private. Please." I may like Metallica more than Mo-Town, but I ain't too proud to beg.

"So how's he in bed?" Lula asked. "He looks like he'd be good!"

I shook my head. "Look, we just decided to be more than friends last night and we haven't gotten that far yet. And even when we do, I'm not going to kiss and tell. You know me better than that!"

Lula moaned. "You ain't no fun!"

I smirked. I was plenty of fun, thank you very much, I just wasn't going to share the details.

"So Connie, any new files for me?"

Connie frowned but handed over the two new files. I decided that retreat was the better part of valor and took them home to review.

Once I was there, I decided to go ahead and call Les.

"Yo, Beautiful," Les answered on the second ring. "Everything okay?"

"Hey, Les," I replied. "I'm good. How are you?"

"Fine and dandy. What's shaking, bacon?"

I laughed. "So you know how you told me I should give things a try with Ram?"

"Yeah?" he drawled, drawing out the one syllable word into at least three.

"Thanks for the good advice. I decided to take it. But if this blows up in my face, I'm blaming you!"

Les chuckled. "So you guys are together now?" He was ignoring the fact that I was blaming him if it went to hell in a handbasket.

"Yeah. We had that talk last night and decided to give it a try. He was surprised that you encouraged me to give it a shot with him, but I explained that we'd only ever be just friends."

Les laughed again and I had to smile at the sound. Maybe in a previous lifetime Les and I were more than just friends, but for this lifetime, he'd always be one of my best friends.

"Did you tell him I'd kick his ass if he hurt you?"

"Yep."

"Alrighty then. I'm happy for you, Beautiful. Just don't forget that you've got friends who love you too and who like hanging out with you. Just because you're now dating Ram doesn't mean you get to ignore us."

"Never!"

We chatted for a little bit longer and it sounded like he nearly died laughing when I explained the scene from this morning.

"Um, should I call Bobby?" I asked when Les kept laughing and I didn't hear him pause to breathe. "It's not that funny!"

"I'm fine, Beautiful," he wheezed after a moment. "And it is that funny! I'd love to see Ram being harassed by Lula like that!"

I groaned. "My grandma's going to be on him like white on rice!" That set Les off again.

"Shit, I'll have to take him off the schedule for Sunday so he can recuperate," Les choked out a minute later. "He's scheduled for monitors, but he might not be able to sit that long!"

"Kiss my ass, Santos," I retorted.

"Oh, Beautiful, you know I would if I could, but Ram's one of the best snipers around and can take me out from a mile away, so I'm going to have to pass on that lovely offer."

I blew a raspberry into the phone and Les laughed again. I was glad to know that our relationship hadn't changed any.

Les teased me for a bit longer before he finally needed to go to a client meeting. "Alright, be good," I told him.

"What's the fun in that?" was his response before he hung up.

Punk. Good thing I love him.

Ram really must have put the fear of God into Lula and Connie, because I didn't get any phone calls from my mom or any other Burg busybodies trying to wheedle answers out of me. In fact, the next time my phone rang was when Ram called me after he got off work.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said when I answered. "You want to go out for dinner or want me to bring something over?"

Hmm, that was a hard decision. Not. "Let's eat in," I replied. "I'd like a little more time before the gossip buzzards start circling."

"You sure have a way with words," he said with a quiet chuckle. Eh, it was an apt metaphor.

We discussed food and then I did an Olympic world record speed clean while waiting on Ram to pick up some Chinese food and get to my apartment. It wouldn't pass my mom's white glove inspection, but it would suffice for the moment.

It would have to, because he was knocking on the door.

I checked the peephole and then let the smiling guy with food in. He sat the food on the kitchen bar and then spun around to kiss me. "Hello again, gorgeous," he finally said in a rumbly voice a few moments later.

"Hi," I managed weakly, my heart still racing and my hormones sounding the trumpets.

Ram shot me a smug grin before he picked up the food. He'd been in my kitchen enough to know where all the stuff was at, so he just got some plates and cutlery for us. I drug myself out of my stupor after a moment and snagged some drinks just as Ram finished getting the food organized.

We ate leisurely as we chatted. Apparently Cal had been just as determined to get details as Connie and Lula, and he'd been frustrated when Ram had refused to say more than he already had about our new relationship. I was thoroughly amused at the thought of big, scary, tattooed badass Cal trying to wheedle gossip out of Ram. It was such an incongruous image that it made me giggle, which in turn made Ram smile.

"Yeah, it was pretty damn funny," Ram admitted. "At first. Then it got annoying."

Yeah, I totally know that feeling, dude. "Try dealing with both Connie and Lula," I said drily. "I just got the heck out of Dodge before they dragged out the thumb screws."

Ram laughed at that, his blue eyes twinkling merrily and his dimples flashing in the low light from my side lamps. I couldn't resist. Now granted, I didn't try very hard, but I also didn't think he'd object. I shifted closer and pressed my lips against his as he continued to chuckle. His laughter cut off abruptly, muffled by my lips against his, but he got on board with my new plan very quickly.

A few very pleasant minutes later, I eased away. "What was that?" he breathed.

I shrugged. "Just felt like kissing you."

I got a killer smile in return. "Well, I think you should follow those instincts more often!" he declared.

I smiled at him and then winked. "I'll take that under advisement."

"Please do."

I just grinned and went back to eating my chop suey. It took him another few seconds to follow suit. He still had a big, shit-eating grin on his face. I had a grin on my face that I'd put that smile on his face.

Once we finished eating, we put the plates on the coffee table and then snuggled together on the couch. It was great. We talked, cuddled and kissed for the next couple of hours.

I woke up when my world was in motion. "Whazza?" I mumbled.

"Shh," Ram whispered as he sat me down on my bed. "You fell asleep."

"Sorry," I said with a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Don't be," he reassured me with a gentle kiss as he tucked blankets around me. "Sleep well and I'll talk to you tomorrow, sweetheart."

I nodded sleepily and snuggled in. "'kay. You too."

I got another soft kiss goodbye and then he was gone.

_**Author's note: **__And it's official now – people are starting to find out! How long do you think Ram's death glares will keep Connie and Lula quiet? _

_Sorry that I didn't get this posted over the weekend like usual, but between my students graduating and MY GRADUATION, it was insane! Yep, it's totally official now, I'm done with grad school! And anyone who ever tries to take this away from me will be bitch slapped into next Tuesday by yours truly. I worked too hard and too long for it to give up without one hell of a fight!_

_I'm behind on replying to reviews for the same reasons, but I will! Now that I'm done with grad school and I'm about to be on vacation for two blissful weeks, I'm really looking forward to reading lots of fanfiction, writing lots, and, of course, replying to all of you. Thank you for leaving reviews, they make my day!_

_(Side note: if you've read __Notorious Nineteen__, should I ask Santa for it? Was it worth the $20 or should I wait another month or two for it to be available for a dollar at Goodwill?)_

_Please let me know what you think! I'll do my best to post the next chapter this weekend, but just in case… Merry Christmas to all (or Happy Hanukah, Happy Kwanza, or a generic Happy Holidays for whatever your beliefs) and Happy New Year to everyone!_


	11. A witchy woman revealed

_**Chapter 11**_

I saw Ram for dinner the next couple of nights, and we continued with our easy camaraderie. He was so easy to talk to. He'd joke around with me, but he wouldn't let me get away with any bullshit. I could tell him I didn't want to talk about something and he'd drop it if I promised I wasn't in any danger or anything.

It was great.

The kissing and progressively heavy petting was also divine, let me tell ya. The man has skills. If he could get me this worked up in the living room while fully clothed, I was in for a damn good experience once we graduated to the bedroom and being naked.

The thought of Ram naked made my brain short circuit for a minute, and I had to shake my head to reboot. I'd seen him in itty-bitty swimming trunks, and that was one helluva fantastic view, so the fully monty must be spectacular.

Is it getting hot in here? I'm too young for menopause. Right? _Right? _

Saturday morning, he came over to my apartment bearing gifts. From the Tasty Pastry. I could really learn to love this man.

He knocked on the door and waited for me to answer and then gave me a toe-curling kiss as a greeting. "Good morning, sweetheart," he said with a dimple-flashing grin.

"Hi," I replied once I was able to think again.

"So I thought maybe we'd have a light breakfast, go for a jog, and then we can figure out what we want to do for the rest of the day before we go to your parents house for dinner. Sound okay?" he asked with a grin.

I shrugged. I still wasn't a fan of jogging, but I was able to get my skips much easier, my pants fit much better and it seemed to make all the Merry Men nearly giddy with joy, so on balance, it was worth it.

Ram in particular was very enthusiastic that I was working out even the little that I was doing.

We did the work out thing and then went back to his house to shower and change. "So what next, kemosabe?" I asked.

Ram grinned at me and tweaked one of my curls. "I'm up for anything."

I smiled wickedly at him. "That sounds promising."

He groaned and closed his eyes. "Not what I meant, but yeah, that too."

I snuggled into his arms with a happy sigh. Soon, I promised myself. Very soon.

We ended up spending the day in his backyard playing with the dogs, grilling out burgers for lunch and then curled up on his couch watching movies until it was time to leave for my mom's house.

The feeling of impending doom also increased. Mom had been less than over the top enthusiastic that I was coming to dinner, but I hoped she'd at least be polite.

I changed into the clothes I'd brought just for dinner, a modest black skirt, light blue short-sleeved summery blouse and a pair of strappy black high-heeled sandals. It was cute and feminine, but I figured it would get the mom seal of approval.

Ram was in khakis and a blue button down, which made his blue eyes sparkle. Damn, but he was one gorgeous guy.

"Ready to go, sweetheart?" he asked once he tucked a gun into a holster at each ankle and a knife at his waist.

"Do I have to?"

He grinned at me. "It was your idea."

"Temporary insanity."

He grinned at me. "I've got ice cream in the fridge if it doesn't go well."

"You're the smartest man on the planet."

"I was a boy scout once. Always be prepared," he quipped and put his hand at my waist to guide me out. I really didn't want to go. Why I had I come up with this damn stupid idea again?

Mom's Burg-dar was working and she and grandma were on the front porch as we walked up the front steps.

"Stephanie," she said in a tight voice as we stepped inside. "Who's your… friend?" The word friend was not friendly.

"Mom, grandma, this is Ram. We're seeing each other."

Mom narrowed her eyes at me while grandma gave him a thorough once over before grinning at me. "Good job, baby girl. I approve."

I smiled at my grandmother. "Thanks, grandma. I think he's pretty great, too."

Grandma winked at Ram, who winked back at her. Grandma cackled. "Yep, you'll do, sonny. You'll do."

"Thank you, ma'am," he said politely. Then he turned to my mother. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Plum."

Mom stared at him for a moment before perfunctorily shaking his outstretched hand. "What's your name?" she demanded.

Crap, this didn't bode well. I'd counted on her at least being marginally polite at first.

"Michael Ramsey, ma'am. Ram is a nickname."

She sniffed and looked at me. "Stephanie, I need you in the kitchen, though God knows you're no help in there."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. "Sure, mom, let me introduce Ram to dad and I'll be there."

Mom stalked away and I looked at grandma. "What's with her?"

Grandma shook her head. "I guess she thought you were back with that horse's patoot, the cop, since she's been on the phone with Angie Morelli all day."

"Why would she think that?"

Grandma shrugged her bony shoulders. "'Cause your mother lost her mind when she went through the change and it never came back?"

I grinned at her and grabbed Ram's hand to lead him into the living room to meet my dad. "So talk about sports, and you'll be fine," I told him. "Yankees, not Mets."

"Got it," he assured me.

"Dad, I'd like you to meet Michael Ramsey, or Ram," I said to my dad. Dad looked up from the TV and studied Ram for a minute before standing up and shaking his hand.

"You one of those bounty hunter too?" he asked.

Ram nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Army?"

"Navy SEAL, sir."

Dad nodded. "Then you might be trained enough to keep up with my pumpkin."

Ram smiled broadly at him. "Maybe."

Dad grinned back at him and I rolled my eyes at them. "Men."

Grandma smiled. "Hey, at least your dad seems to like him," she pointed out.

"True."

"Let's go see what your mom wants," she suggested. "Making her wait just makes it worse."

Also true.

We went into the kitchen together, and mom was viciously stirring a pot of tomato sauce. Eek, this was bad. No matter how angry she was at me, she almost never took it out on the food.

"What can I help with, mom?" I asked tentatively after sharing an apprehensive glance with grandma.

"Stephanie Michelle Plum, how could you bring that, that _man_ into my house?" she hissed.

I took an involuntary step back. "What?"

"That man, that man you cheated on poor Joseph with!"

"Wait just one minute," I said. "I didn't cheat on Joe, he cheated on me!"

"He said that you'd cheated on him with one of those thugs, which was why he'd gone to that Gilman woman," mom insisted.

"Hold up, you've talked to Joe? After I told you that he cheated on me?"

"Of course! I had to apologize for the scene you made," she told me disdainfully.

I went from confused and mildly irritated to full on pissed. "What the hell? Are you nuts? He cheated on me! I didn't cheat on him, and Ram had absolutely nothing to do with anything! He's been helping me to get better at bounty hunting, and we just recently moved from friends to more, but I sure as bloody hell didn't cheat on Joe! And the fact that you, my own mother, would apologize to that fucking asshole for the lies that he told about me, and worse, that you'd believe them? God, mom, what kind of mother are you?"

"You will not talk to me like that!" she demanded.

"How about how you talk to me? Like I'm a mentally deficient five year old. When are you going to stop doing that?"

"When you start acting your age," she retorted. "When you stop dressing like a tramp and acting like a common whore. When you marry Joseph as you should have when you were sixteen-year-old slut. When you prove you're more than the worthless trash you are now."

I froze. "So tell me how you really feel about me," I muttered.

Mom actually looked a little surprised at her outburst.

"Helen!" dad shouted, completely aghast. "What the hell was that?"

"She… she pushed me into it!" she tried to deflect the blame onto me.

I reached up to wipe the tears off my face and felt Ram's presence at my back as he wrapped his arms around me. They must have heard the commotion and come to investigate.

"I didn't push you into calling me those names," I whispered. "You just finally admitted what you always really thought about me."

Mom set her lips into a mutinous glare and refused to speak.

"Helen Marie Mazur, I've had it with your holier than thou attitude," my grandmother said, her usual joking demeanor replaced with one of firmness. "You act as though you've never made a mistake. Well, girlie, you have. I was there. I remember them. You're lucky your father didn't kill Anthony Morelli when I caught him with his hand up your skirt when you were fourteen. Might have been better for everyone if he had."

"Mother!" mom blushed furiously. "You said you'd never mention that again!"

"When you do your own daughter the favor of letting her past mistakes stay in the past, I'll do the same for you," grandma spat. "Then there was the time I caught you with Anthony again when you were fifteen. It wasn't just his hand up your skirt then, was it?"

Mom looked like she was about to die of embarrassment as she shook her head frantically.

"We just kept it hushed up, and Anthony Morelli at least had the sense not to spread it around town, unlike his damned son," grandma continued. "And back in those days, that would have completely ruined your reputation and no one would have married you. I didn't want you to marry Anthony because we knew what his father was like, and his father before him, and I knew he'd be like that too. He had that meanness in his eyes. But oh, how you wept and wailed and cried to be allowed to marry him! You engineered me finding you so we'd force him to marry you. But I wanted better for you than what Angie Morelli got. I wanted more for you than being beat on and cheated on. So I forbade you from ever seeing him again, and I kept a close eye on you until he got Angie knocked up and was forced into a shotgun wedding with her just a couple of months later. I've kept my mouth shut for fifty years, but no more! I'm going to tell every damn person I know why you're so damn insistent on making poor Stephanie marry a man who isn't right for her because I wouldn't let you marry his father!"

"You wouldn't!"

"After hearing what you said to your own daughter, I'm absolutely going to make sure all of your oh-so-proper friends know what a little tramp and whore and slut and trash you are," grandma said seriously. "Let's see how fast they turn on you when they find out about your past and how you've been trying to force Stephanie to marry a man just so you could fulfill your childhood fantasy through her! How long do you think it'll be before they're all gossiping about you and what a bitch you are now?"

Grandma marched to the phone and mom tried to run over to her. My dad blocked her way. "No," he said firmly. "I can't believe what you just said to Stephanie, or why you've really been so insistent that she marry that asshole all these years."

"Frank, please," she begged as grandma began to dial the phone, "I have to stop her from saying anything!"

"And have you ever stopped from gossiping about your daughter?" dad demanded. "How much time do you spend on the phone sharing stories with your so-called friends? Did you ever stop to think for even one minute how that might hurt our girl?"

"Hello, Myra?" grandma was saying. I knew she was talking to Myra Stanislow, one of the biggest gossips in the Burg. "This is Edna Mazur."

Mom became frantic and tried to push past dad. He held her tight and refused to let go. "Mother, no!" mom shouted. "Please, no!" Then mom fainted in dad's arms.

"Mrya, I'm sorry, but Helen's been drinking again and just passed out in the kitchen. I have to go, I'll call you later," grandma said as she hung up the phone.

I stared at her in awe. "Would you really have done it?"

"Damn straight, and I still will if she doesn't shape up and apologize and mean it the minute she wakes up. If I even think for a second that she's lying, I'll call Myra back," grandma said seriously.

Then she grinned at us. "Think your cutie can keep me safe from your mother?"

Ram smiled at her. "We'll do our best."

Dad lowered mom to the floor, but left here there. It was a few minutes before she came around.

"What?" she mumbled as she stared up at us. "What happened?"

Her eyes widened in shock as the memories came flooding back. "Mother! You didn't!"

"Anything you want to say to Stephanie?" grandma asked, not answering her question.

Mom sat up and turned a venomous glare on me. "This is all your fault!" she shrieked as she stood shakily and launched herself at me.

Ram stepped in front of me and she bounced off his chest, her hands curled into claws as she tried to reach out to me. Dad grabbed her and pulled her back but she continued to struggle. "You should have never been born!" she yelled at me. "I wanted a son, I told everyone you were going to be a boy, but you were a girl! From the very beginning, you've done nothing but embarrass and humiliate me! I hate you! Get out of my house and never come back, you ungrateful bitch!"

"I didn't tell her," grandma said flatly. "I was giving you a chance to realize what your damn fool actions have done. But you just proved that you're the most hateful, spiteful bitch I've ever known, and I'd regret that you were ever born except that I would have Stephanie otherwise. One day, I hope you regret those words, and I hope you feel the shame that you ought for being so consumed by what other people think that you forgot to care about your own family. So I will be telling everyone about your flaws since you love pointing out everyone else's."

"Frank, you have to stop her!"

"Stop her? Hell, I'm going to help her," dad said.

"You can't mean that!"

"Oh yeah, I do. I can't believe what a vicious, evil little witch you are. You seem so nice and sweet, but you're really just a viper, aren't you? And I'm not staying in this house one more day. I'm leaving you, Helen."

She turned around to stare at him in shock. "But… but what will the neighbors say?"

I'd heard that from her so many times that it wasn't a surprise. It was to dad apparently.

"What the hell does it matter what they say?" he asked, legitimately bewildered. "I tell you that I'm leaving you, and you only care what the neighbors say? That just proves that there's nothing here left to save, if there ever was beyond dinner and clean shorts."

"What they'll probably say," grandma said, "is that you're an awful person and a terrible wife and mother. And they'd be right."

"Get out!" she screeched at grandma. "Get out of my house! I've housed you and clothed you and fed you, and this is how you repay me?"

"What about those twenty years that I housed and fed and clothed you?" grandma retorted. "I've only lived here for five years. You owe me fifteen more."

"That was dad's house," mom said disdainfully.

"Then this is Frank's house, and I'll only leave if he tells me to," grandma retorted.

"Shit, you mean that would have been all it took?" dad muttered. "She can stay, I'm leaving."

Mom crossed her arms and glared ferociously. "Grandma, you can stay with me," I offered quietly.

"No, thank you, baby girl. I'm staying right here," grandma said.

I nodded and swallowed hard. "Let's go," I said softly to Ram. He just nodded and took my hand, keeping an eye on my mother as dad walked us to the door.

"I'll call you tomorrow, pumpkin," dad said as he kissed my cheek. "Try not to worry about what happened tonight, it wasn't your fault, it was hers. And I'd been thinking, dreaming really, about leaving for a long time, this was just the kick in the ass I needed to actually do it."

I had nothing to say, so I just nodded again.

Ram opened the passenger door and helped me before jogging around to the driver's side of his truck. I stared sightlessly out the window, completely and totally unaware of my surroundings.

"Sweetheart, do you want to stay at my house tonight?" Ram asked after a few minutes. "Or me stay with you?"

"Huh? Oh, I'll be fine alone."

"No, you won't. You're clearly upset, and for good reason. My question is just whether to stop by and pick up Rex and some clothes for you, or to swing by my place so I can feed the dogs and grab some clothes for me. Either is completely fine, but I'm not leaving you alone tonight. That is not fine."

I blinked back yet more years as he reached out to grasp my hand. "Um, maybe your place if you don't mind," I said hesitantly. "Might be nice to be incommunicado for a bit if grandma does actually spill the beans."

He just nodded. "You're welcome at my house anytime," he assured me. "You know this. That's why you've got a key and the alarm codes." He'd given me a key so I could come use his home gym whenever I wanted (translation: not often), but so far, I hadn't been there without him.

"Steph, honey?" Ram asked.

I jumped and then realized we were at my apartment and he had my door open and was waiting for me to unbuckle my seat belt. "Oh. Sorry."

I climbed out and we headed up to my apartment. I packed up some clothes and toiletries, enough for a few days in case the blowback from everything was really bad, while Ram packed Rex's hamster pellets and extra cedar bedding.

"Ready," I said softly.

Ram set the bag of hamster stuff on the counter and drew me into his arms. "I'm sorry, well, that your mom's a bitch."

I laughed humorlessly. "I'm used to it by now. I just didn't expect her to be so direct. She's usually much more polite about it."

He just rested his chin on the top of my head. "You don't know how much I wanted to shoot her."

"Join the club."

"Pretty damn big club. We need an email listserv," Ram said. I laughed, as he intended.

"Come on, sweetheart, let's go home," he said.

Home. That sounded scarily good coming from him.

_**Author's note**__:_ Sorry I vanished. My uncle got sicker (he'd been ill for a while) and then passed away just before Christmas. And a Christmas Eve funeral left me rather depressed, it was so sad seeing my aunt and cousins so distraught. That combined with the usual chaos of the holidays left me little time and even less inspiration to write, and so there you go.

But I'm back now, so please let me know what you think! What do you think of my rationale for why Helen's such a witchy woman to Stephanie?

Hope everyone had a great holiday and that 2013 is off to a fabulous start!


	12. A walk on the wild side

_**Chapter 12**_

Ram took me home, made me comfort food galore, including a carton of Cherry Garcia, and then just cuddled on the couch with me.

"How'd you know this was my favorite?" I mumbled around the cold spoon in my mouth.

"That first night we moved from friends to more, you were teasing me and you said that you didn't know if I kissed well enough to be as addicting as Cherry Garcia," he said. "So I figured it was a favorite. Plus I needed to check out my competition."

I started laughing, and he grinned.

"Now, I still think I'm better, but as far as ice cream goes, it's pretty good," Ram said with a chuckle of his own.

I was desperate for a distraction, so I latched onto that. "Hmm. I don't remember. I mean, I've got the ice cream here, but…" I trailed off.

Ram warmed my chilly lips with his hot kisses for the next few minutes. My ice cream should be a puddle of goo by now.

"Damn, you're good at that," I signed when he finally pulled back reluctantly.

He made a purring sound in his chest as I leaned back against him.

"But who said you could stop?" I asked as I turned and pressed my lips to his neck. "Maybe I wasn't done yet."

His hand tightened against my hip as he sucked in a breath. I'd always been an active participant in our amorous encounters, but this was a bit more aggressive than I'd been with him so far.

I continued to work my lips against his neck, nuzzling at the sensitive spot just under his ear, until I felt him shudder slightly. That was fun. Let's see if I can make him do more.

My hands slid down his chest and over his abs to tug his shirt out of the sweats he'd changed into once we'd gotten back to his house. That caused him to suck in an even deeper breath and it made his abs ripple deliciously under my hands.

I pulled his shirt up farther and Ram obligingly lifted his arms so I could pull it over his head and toss it to the floor. I never claimed to be tidy, and especially not now.

"Stephanie," he moaned as I attached my lips to one flat nipple, "ah, sweetheart."

I raked my nails down his abs and felt him shudder again. I was really enjoying this.

"Sweetheart, what are you doing?" he panted.

I released his nipple and looked up at him. "If you don't know by now, I'm not doing it right," I said with a wicked grin before I swung one leg over his and straddled his hips. Both hands settled on my hips. "I'll have to try harder," I purred as I leaned forward to kiss him.

He kissed me back as I undulated slowly against him, drawing little moans from both of us as I brushed against his hardness.

"Stephanie," he moaned a few long and delicious minutes later. "Honey, you have to stop."

"But why?" I complained.

He lifted me and slid me back a few inches so I wasn't grinding right on top of his groin anymore. "Because you're upset about your mom and I don't want you to do anything you'll regret in the morning," he panted. "But you've almost pushed me to the point where I won't care about being a good guy anymore, so you've got to stop _now._"

I tried to scoot closer again but he held me back. "Sweet Jesus, sweetheart, if you start that again, you're going to be in big trouble," he warned.

"Maybe I want to be in trouble."

He closed his eyes and groaned loudly. "You're going to kill me."

"But what a way to go."

"Yeah, but I don't think you really want this."

I rocked my hips against his hard thigh, but it wasn't the hardness I desperately wanted. "Yeah, I really do."

He drew in a deep breath through his nose and let it out slowly. "Really? Right now? On the couch like a couple of horny teenagers after all the bullshit with your mom? 'Cause if that's really want you want, I'm more than willing, but I want you to be damn sure and there to be no regrets or awkwardness in the morning when you realized what happened."

I pouted a little, but his words cleared the fog of passion just enough for a few rational thoughts to slip through.

"I'm not saying I don't want to," Ram said quietly. "If you were paying the least bit of attention, obviously I do. I just don't want you to regret rushing things in the morning, sweetheart. But if this is really want you want, what you need right now, then I think I can do a little better than groping on a couch."

I got a new hot flash at the promise in his voice.

I settled back against the couch and studied him. His face was flushed and his eyes were the brightest blue I'd ever seen. "Why'd you stop me?" I asked. "I mean, most guys wouldn't have."

"Sweetheart, I'm not most guys. And that might have been the hardest thing I've ever done, literally," he said with a wry grin as he glanced down at the bulge still straining futilely against his sweat pants, "but I just don't want you doing something you'll regret in the morning."

"Would you regret it?"

"I wouldn't, no, but I'm not the one who's hurt," he said. "I just don't want you to pull away from me because I took advantage of you in an emotional state."

"I thought I was the one taking advantage of you."

He closed his eyes briefly. "Don't remind me."

I smiled weakly. "Sorry. About everything. Getting out of control and all that."

He shrugged and pulled me back against his side. "Nothing a cold shower won't fix. Don't worry about it."

"Still sorry."

"Don't be. That'll fuel my dreams for years to come."

I grinned at him. "Maybe soon I'll do better than your dreams. When I'm not so messed up."

"Oh, I'll be looking forward to that," he said in a husky voice.

"Yeah, me too," I promised. "And on that note, I think it's time that I go to bed. Alone."

He pressed a kiss to my hair and let me up. He stood and grabbed his shirt from where I'd flung it and started to put it on. "You could leave it off and give a girl something good to dream about," I told him.

He paused and flashed me a wicked grin. "Yes, ma'am," he said as he snapped to attention and saluted, the muscles in his chest and abs flexing sinuously.

I moaned and he grinned, flashing his dimples at me. "Only fair that I'm not the only one in need of a cold shower," he said with a grin.

"You don't happen to have a shower massager in your bathroom do you?" I asked with a wry grin. I was in a real state.

"Yeah, in the master. Comes in handy if I get injured. Why?" he asked, confused.

I just stared at him, waiting for him to get it.

"Oh, hell no! There's no way in hell I can listen to you do that and not join in!" he exclaimed. "No, no, no, and you're a damn evil woman for even suggesting it!"

I grinned at him. "It was just a question."

"Oh sweet Jesus," he muttered. "I'm not going to survive the night without going crazy."

"I can go back to my apartment," I said seriously.

"No way, sweetheart, I'm just going to take the longest cold shower in history," he said. "And you stay away from my shower massager unless I'm there to help!"

I just grinned at him and stood on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek lightly. "Thanks."

He wrapped me in a hug. "You're welcome, sweetheart. If you need to talk, need a hug, need more ice cream, anything, you just yell, okay?"

I nodded and stepped back reluctantly before I let the scent of his aftershave get me all worked up again.

He led me to the guest room next to his bedroom. "I'll be right next door if you need me," he told me. "I set out clean towels and such in the bathroom."

I nodded my thanks.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," he told me and then gave me a sweet and gentle kiss. "Sleep well."

I got ready for bed and then lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, my mind whirling. I'd never known all that stuff about my mom's past. I figured she'd gone to her marriage bed as pure as the driven snow, but to find out that she'd been getting freaky with Joe's dad when she was only fourteen was pretty damn shocking.

Of course, finding out that she hated me and wished that I'd never been born was also pretty shocking.

I just lay there for what felt like forever, analyzing my whole life in light of what I'd learned. Yeah, mom had pretty much always hated me. I was never as smart or pretty or good as Val, no matter how hard I'd tried, so I'd stopped trying sometime in late elementary school. But the fact that she hated me because I was a girl and not a boy, something I had no control over, made me both sad and pissed.

I didn't even realize I was crying until the door creaked open.

"Sweetheart?" Ram asked softly.

I gulped back the tears and buried my head in a pillow. He padded into the room and lay down on the bed, pulling me into his arms. "Shh, honey, it'll be okay," he promised as he rubbed my back gently.

He just held me as I tried desperately not to cry. I hated crying in front of other people. Hell, I hated crying, period.

I finally exhausted myself crying and fell into a trouble sleep, warm and secure in Ram's arms.

When I woke up the next morning, I was still in Ram's arms and sun was streaming in through the windows.

"Ram!" I yelped.

He shot up, his body twisting to cover mine as he scanned the bedroom for threats. "What? What's wrong?" he demanded.

I giggled slightly. Trust a Merry Man to wake up ready for World War III. "Sorry, everything's okay, but you're late for work!" I knew he had to work today.

He relaxed and lay back against the pillows. "No, I'm not. I called Santos last night and told him your mom had been a major bitch and that I thought I should stay with you today. He said it was fine, offered to ship your mom to Outer Mongolia and said to have you call him today. So he's getting one of the guys to cover my shift, and I'll take one of theirs later this month in return."

I blinked at him. "You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. I wanted to be with you today," he said simply.

"Oh. Thanks."

Ram just grinned lazily at me, one dimple flashing in the sunlight.

"Can I ask a question?" I asked.

"Shoot."

"Where's Outer Mongolia?"

Ram started laughing and pulled me closer to him. "Between China and Russia."

"Is it cold there?"

"Yep. It's next to Siberia."

"Then tell Les yes please," I told him as I snuggled in closer. Ram chuckled again, and I loved hearing that sound.

"How about you call him after breakfast and tell him yourself?" Ram suggested. "I was barely able to keep him from coming over last night to check on you. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised to find him camped out in the front yard."

I had to laugh at that thought. Les was a good friend.

"Alright, I'll call him," I promised. "In a little bit. I'm enjoying this too much to move."

His arms tightened around me. "Me too," he confessed. "I could have done without the adrenaline jolt wake up call, but this is just about perfect."

"What would make it perfect?" I asked.

He chuckled huskily. "I don't think you really want me to answer that question, sweetheart."

I blushed. "Probably not."

We just lay there for a long time until two things drove me out of bed. One, I needed the bathroom in the worst way, and two, my stomach was growling like an angry lion.

"You go get cleaned up and I'll be in the kitchen," Ram said as I reluctantly left the warm cocoon of his arms.

I slid out of the bed and Ram groaned. I turned to look at him. "What?"

"That's what you slept in?" he asked huskily.

I blushed and looked down. I'd borrowed one of his Navy shirts last night to use as a sleep shirt since I'd forgotten to pack one and it only barely covered all the important bits.

"Um, yeah."

He just groaned again, so I added a little extra wiggle to my walk as I headed to the bathroom, grinning the whole way. He was good for my ego.

"Damn, woman, you trying to kill me?"

"Just remember, all this could have been yours, but you turned me down," I called out as I shut the bathroom door.

"Hey!" he yelped. "I did not! I was trying to be a gentleman!"

I opened the door again. He was standing in the doorway of the guest bedroom looking all rumpled and warm and sexy as hell in just a pair of cotton basketball shorts hanging low on his hips. "I know. I'm just teasing. Thank you," I said as I blew him a kiss.

He stepped into the bathroom, kissed the daylights out of me and then left me clinging to the counter as he walked away on slightly unsteady legs. "Just remember, sweetheart, I tease back," he told me.

Damn. Could I get that in writing?

I took care of business, washed my face and then went back across the hall to throw on some lounge pants with Ram's Navy t-shirt.

When I got to the kitchen, Ram was scrambling some eggs. He'd thrown a shirt on over his shorts, drat the man. The dogs were at his feet, hungrily scarfing up their breakfast of kibbles and bits.

I walked up and wrapped my arms around his waist, pressing my face against his back. "Hi," I said.

He patted my arm and went back to breakfast. "Hi, sweetheart. How do you like your eggs?"

"Unfertilized?"

He turned to grin at me. "So a condom run would be in order then."

I smacked his taunt ass. "Scrambled is fine."

"You want to put some toast in?" he asked as he worked with quiet efficiency to whip up some eggs.

I made the toast, poured the coffee and set the table while Ram finished the eggs and bacon. Boy, I'm a lucky girl.

He scooped food onto the plates and sat down. He'd only taken a couple of bites before the doorbell rang.

"Be right back," Ram said as he grabbed a gun out of a drawer and padded towards the door, the dogs on his heels.

"I told her to call you after breakfast," I heard. "Guess you couldn't wait that long."

"Nope, gotta check on my girl," Lester Santos replied cheerfully.

"Hey, she's my girl now!" Ram replied.

"Yeah, man, I know, but she's still my best girl friend," Les said. "Hell, she's my only girl friend."

"That better be two words," Ram replied slightly testily. "You're talking about my girlfriend, one word."

Les laughed. "Yeah, two words. Girl and friend. Separate words."

"Good. Come on in, she's eating breakfast."

"Hey, Beautiful!" Les called. "Guess who's here?"

"Hey, Les," I said. "What's up?"

"Damn, I should've joined the Navy," Les said with an appreciative glance my way. "You make that shirt look good."

Ram growled at him and I rolled my eyes. "He's a flirt. He can't help it. And he doesn't mean anything by it. Just ignore him. I do."

Les sat down next to me and took a bite of the toast in my hand. "So what happened, Beautiful?" he asked.

"Don't want to talk about it while I'm eating, it'll ruin my appetite," I told him.

Les shrugged. "Fair enough."

Les and Ram chatted while we finished our breakfast. Les declined anything to eat, saying he'd already had breakfast, but he was happy to finish off what I couldn't eat.

"Alright, now tell Uncle Les," Les said once I put my plate in the dishwasher.

I walked into the living room, leading the parade of men and dogs. "My mom's a psycho bitch," I started. Ram nodded.

So I told Les the whole story. He was practically vibrating in rage by the end, and he pulled me into his arms for a hug. "She's wrong, dead wrong, you know that, right?" he said as his green eyes searched mine. "You're the best person I've ever known."

I smiled a little. "Thanks, Les. You two are good for my self-esteem."

"So can I ship her someplace far, far away?" Les asked.

Ram grinned. "She was cool with Outer Mongolia."

Les grinned evilly. "Good."

I laughed. "I love you guys."

"We love you too, Beautiful," Les said as he kissed my forehead. Ram growled again slightly and Les amended his statement after casting a glance at Ram. "Just perhaps in slightly different ways."

I grinned. I found Ram's tiny bit of jealously cute, especially since he wasn't going all caveman like Joe did over Ranger. Of course, I'd be jealous if some girl was kissing Ram, so I couldn't quibble much.

I stepped away from Les and closer to Ram, who immediately wrapped an arm around me. Les laughed. "Look, man, I get it. She's with you now. I know! But you're going to have to deal with the fact that we all love your girl too, and we're not going to stop loving her just because you two are dating now."

Ram hung his head a little. "I know. It's just…"

"I get it," Les said. "If Beautiful was mine, I'd be ape-shit crazy when all the guys hugged her and all that. But thankfully that's your burden to bear. So just figure it out, pronto."

"You mean you aren't already ape-shit crazy?" I asked innocently.

Les grabbed for me and I shrieked, hiding behind Ram. "Yeah, over my dead body," Ram told a grinning Les.

I snorted. "Cave men."

"You just want to see us rip off our shirts and beat on our chests," Les said with a laugh.

I peaked around Ram. "Yes, please."

They both laughed.

"Hey, as far as distractions from my mom go, that's gotta be at the top of the list," I insisted.

"You were pretty damn distracting last night," Ram said with a grin.

"I really don't want to hear about that," Les complained. "I'm too busy with dipshit gone to go out any, and I'm in a dry spell that makes the Sahara look like an oasis. So hearing about you two getting freaky isn't going to help me any."

"And I really don't want to hear about that," I retorted. "Eww!"

Ram laughed at us. "You two fight like me and my sister," he remarked.

I looked at Les. "Could you get your mom to adopt me, bro?"

Les smiled and nodded. "Sure. But that would make you related to dipshit, you sure you want that?"

I shrugged. "I'm not entirely certain I want to be related to you!"

Les lunged at me, and I used one of Ram's moves to sidestep him and sweep his legs out from under him when his momentum had him off balance.

He blinked up at me from the floor as Ram roared in laughter. "What the hell, Beautiful?"

"I told you I'd been working with him on self-defense," I said with a smirk.

"Show me!" Les demanded with a wide grin as he jumped to his feet. So we went down to the gym in the basement and I spent the next hour practicing with Les while Ram supervised to make sure I didn't hurt myself (or Les).

"Damn, Beautiful!" Les exclaimed after I took him down for the third time. "You've gotten really good at this!"

"Ram's a good teacher," I said modestly.

"Yeah, he is, but you're also a good student to have picked up this much this fast," Les said as he got to his feet. "Proud of you, Beautiful."

I surprised all of us when I burst into tears at that.

Ram glared at Les as he pulled me into his arms. "Um, sweetheart? What's wrong?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, Beautiful," Les said contritely. "What'd I do wrong?"

"N-nothing," I blubbered. "But why is it I can make you two proud of me just by putting him on the floor for a split second, but nothing I do can ever make my mom proud of me?"

"Oh hell," Les said. "Because she's cuckoo for cocoa puffs, Beautiful. Off her rocker. A few fries short of a Happy Meal. Your mom is crazy, Steph, and that has nothing to do with you, just with her."

"Why is it that there are so many crazy people in my life?" I asked tearfully.

Les shrugged. "Don't know, Beautiful, but that's not your fault. Sounds like all your mom's issues stem from way before you were born, and it's not like you can be blamed for that. Well, not by a rational person, anyways. And if your grandma follows through on her threat and exposes all of your mom's deep, dark secrets, everyone will see why your mom was such a bitch about you and Morelli. She's the crazy one, Steph, not you."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure there have been some moments where you've questioned my sanity," I said.

A smile split Les' handsome face. "Got me there. But I question my sanity on a pretty regular basis for doing this job and letting this guy sneak in and steal you away from me, so I'm maybe not the best judge."

I smiled at my friend. "I recall you actually telling me to give him a chance, that he was a good guy."

"See? I'm completely nuts."

His deadpan delivery made me laugh, which he'd intended. Les could do serious conversations if he must, but he'd much rather do lighthearted and fun.

The relief of both guys was palpable. "Big scary badasses can take down a terrorist cell with no sweat, but one girl in tears leaves you all freaked out?" I mocked.

"When it's you, yeah," Ram agreed. "I hate seeing any woman cry, but it rips me up inside to know you're hurting that bad."

"Yeah," Les agreed. "Give me terrorists any day."

"I'll try to keep the crying to a minimum," I promised.

"How about you beat up Santos a little more," Ram offered. "Would that make you feel better?"

"Hey! I resemble that remark!" Les joked.

I grinned. "You know I could never actually beat him up. The most I can hope for is catching him off guard and then kicking him while he's down."

"Aww, you'd do that to me?" Les shot me a sad puppy dog look.

"Yep!"

"Good girl," Ram replied. "You're learning."

Les grinned. "Kicking me while I'm down, bad. Kicking any bad guy while he's down, very, very good. Stunning or shooting him would be even better."

"Do I get to practice those moves on you?" I asked with my attempt at his eyebrow wiggle.

"Hell no. You've already done that to Hal, and that's enough practice on us," Les said with a laugh. "You can pretend with your cell phone or something, but I don't need to be juiced, thank you very much."

"You're no fun."

"Baby, get rid of this guy and I'll show you fun," Les replied with his signature eyebrow wiggle.

"Nope, I like him. I'm keeping him," I replied.

"Thank you very much," Ram replied drily.

I stretched up and kissed him. "You're welcome."

He caught my lips with his and left me stunned with a brief but potent kiss. "Get rid of him," Ram said with a gesture towards Les, "and I'll show you fun."

I laughed. But I was seriously tempted to kick Les out on his well toned tush.

Les hung out for a bit before he said he had to get back to Haywood. "Call me later, Beautiful," he said as he kissed my cheek goodbye.

"Later, dude," he said to Ram. "Take good care of her."

"You know I will," Ram promised.

"If you need more time off, just call," Les said. "Otherwise, I'll talk to you two crazy kids later."

We closed the door behind Les and smiled at each other. "He's nuts," I mused.

"Yeah, but he's a good friend to have," Ram replied. "He'll do absolutely anything for his friends, and you're at the top of his list, sweetheart."

"He's at the top of mine, too. He's a good friend."

"What about me?" Ram asked as he pulled me against his body. "Where do I rank on this list?"

I hooked my arms around his neck. "You're on a whole different list."

"Really?" He nuzzled my neck and I tried to stifle a moan. "And where am I on that list?"

"Top," I said on a sigh. "At the very top. You're the only one on that list."

"Hmm," he hummed against my ear lobe as he nipped at it with his teeth. "I think I like this list."

And I really liked what he was doing, which he continued to do for another minute. He pulled back with a sigh. "It's too easy to lose my mind around you," he said.

"And that's a problem how?"

He shot me a look that should have set my hair on fire. It definitely set my panties on fire.

I blushed but refused to look away. "You like walking on the wild side, don't you?" Ram said with a chuckle.

I shrugged. "Sometimes." Then I started humming the song 'Walk on the Wild Side' while Ram chuckled.

He caught me around the waist and picked me up in his arms bridal style. I shrieked and clung to his neck. "I've got you, sweetheart," he said with a warm grin, "and I'll never drop you."

I relaxed my death grip. "I know. I trust you."

His eyes softened at that and he dipped his head to kiss me, but it wasn't a passionate kiss. It was more sweet and tender. "Good," he said simply.

_**Author's note:**__ You can thank a snow day for this slightly earlier than usual update!_

_Thank you all for the wonderful reviews, especially those of you who left guest or anonymous reviews. I love reading them! _

_Please let me know what you think of this chapter, and Steph's way of distracting herself!_


	13. Bomb's away!

_**Chapter 13**_

We went for a walk around the block, just a slow, casual walk. I spent most of it deep in thought, and Ram just let me think. I knew he was there if I needed anything, but I really appreciated the fact that he wasn't pushing me talk if I didn't want to.

When we got back, I let out a loud sigh and Ram shot me an inquisitive look. "Guess I should check my phone," I said a little glumly. I didn't particularly want to, but it was the responsible thing to do.

Ram just nodded. "I'll be right here if you need me," he said simply.

I retrieved my phone and decided I'd feel better reading the 7 new text messages and listening to the 18 new voicemails next to Ram. So I scurried back to the living room and sat down next to him. "I've got 25 new messages," I said.

Ram blinked in shock at me. "Damn."

"Yep."

I scanned my texts. They were mostly from Connie, Lula and Mary Lou. The ones from Connie and Lula started out just wanting to know how the dinner at my parents went. The latter ones were mostly comprised of "_OMG!"_ and "_Call me!_"

Mary Lou's message was brief: _Holy shit! Call me when you get a chance. Love you._

I took a deep breath after deleting my texts and connected to my voicemail. They were mostly from people I only vaguely knew, wanting to know if Joe Morelli was really my half-brother, had I know it all the time I'd been sleeping with him, and was it true that my mother was being committed to a psychiatric facility?

"People are nuts," I told Ram once I'd listened to all the messages. "Only two of the voicemails were from people I could actually pick out in a line up, my dad and grandma, and they both just say to lay low for a couple of days while the shit's hitting the fan. The rest were from Burg gossips wanting to know if all the dirt my grandma must have shared was true and if I had known that I was sleeping with my brother when I was with Joe."

Ram shook his head. "Do these people not have a life?"

"Not really, no," I said. "Gossip is their life."

"That's just pathetic."

I couldn't say anything. I agreed.

I called my dad at the new number he'd left for me.

"Yeah," he said gruffly.

"Hey, daddy, it's Stephanie," I said.

"Hey, pumpkin," dad replied in a softer tone. "How are you doing?"

I swallowed hard. "I'm hanging in there."

"Good. So I guess you got my message then."

"Yeah. Where are you staying?" I asked.

"My friend Pete's gone to see his son in California for a couple of weeks," dad replied. "So I'm staying here until I figure it out a little more."

"I'm sorry," I whispered. Ram wrapped an arm around me and held me tight.

"For what?"

"I feel like this is all my fault."

"Oh, pumpkin, it's not. Your mom's the problem, not you. She's the one who's been a total bitch to you for all these years, trying to push that asshole on you because she'd had a thing for his dad. Shit, it's my fault for not realizing how bad it was earlier. I thought you liked the guy so I kept my mouth that I hated the asshole, but your mom didn't keep her mouth shut, did she?"

I choked on a combination of a laugh and a sob. "Not really."

"And she's always acted like she was such a saint, when it turns out she's just as much of a sinner as all the rest of us," dad continued. "And now that her sins are out in public too, maybe she'll knock it off. Either way, I'm done. I'm not so old yet that I'm ready to die, and I don't want to stay with someone who could be such a bitch to her own daughter either. So the only option left is to leave her and start over. So I have. But that's not your fault, it's something I should have done years ago, I should have seen how she was treating you, but I didn't know how bad it was. And I'm sorry, I'm really sorry for that, pumpkin, and I hope one day you can forgive me."

"Yeah, of course. She wasn't that bad around other people, usually," I said. "It was usually when it was just us, or maybe grandma. I guess she figured grandma wouldn't ever say anything, although she always tried to defend me."

"Well, much as I think the old bat's insane, your grandma loves you. And I'm glad she told all of your mother's dirty little secrets, frankly. Can't be easy for your grandma, but she's a tough old bird and she's probably already locked your mother in her room and put her on bread and water only rations."

I had to smile. "Probably." Then the smile faded. "So you're really going to divorce her?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I can't stay with someone who'd say those things, do those things. Hell, she believed that lying asshole over her own daughter. Who does that?" he sounded bewildered.

"I don't know," I said softly. "But she's always hated me for some reason."

There was a long pause. "The timing was always off, but your mom insisted that Valerie was just a big premature baby. But in light of what your grandma said, it's possible that she's not my biological child. I don't know whether I should ask Val to do a DNA test or whatever or just let it go. It's not like it really changes anything now, I've raised her and she's my daughter regardless, but it makes me wonder."

"You think she might be Anthony Morelli's biological kid?" I asked.

I could hear dad's sigh. "It's possible. Like I said, the timing didn't work out with my deployments when I was in the Army, but your mom just said she was premature. But she was over six pounds when she was born! Aren't preemies usually small?"

"I really have no idea, but that's what I always thought," I said. "You might ask grandma, see if she knows anything about that since she knows all the rest of mom's secrets."

I could practically hear the grimace over the phone. "Or maybe not."

"Damn, that sucks, dad," I said sympathetically.

"Yeah."

There was a long pause while I thought furiously. "I'll do a DNA test, if you want," I offered.

"No, I know you're mine," dad replied. "If you could see a picture of my mother when she was younger, you look just like her except for the blue eyes. Plus the timing works out. I was out of the Army by then and I don't see how Helen could have been stepping out on me since I was home all the time by then."

"But I'll still do it if you have even the slightest bit of concern," I said.

"Thanks, but I've never wondered even once about you. Just about Val, and just because of the timing," dad said. "Val looks like your mother while you look like my side of the family except for your mother's eyes."

I was silent.

"Do you know if there's any way to do the test without your sister knowing?" dad asked. "Or should I just drop it?"

"I don't know. I can try to do some research and see. But I don't know what you should do," I said.

Dad sighed heavily. "Just keep it to yourself," he said. "I shouldn't have said anything to you about it."

"I'll be quiet," I promised.

We chatted a bit longer and I gave dad Ram's home phone number, with Ram's permission. It was actually Ram's idea as I was about to hang up. This way I could avoid answering my cell phone but dad could reach me in an emergency.

"You okay?" Ram asked once I disconnected.

I told him about dad's suspicions about Val and Ram whistled. "Damn, that's an awkward spot to be in," Ram said. "On the one hand, he wants to know for sure, but on the other, Val's his daughter even if not biologically. Even asking her to do the test would change the family dynamics in ways I don't want to think about."

I just nodded.

"I can't think about that right," I said in my best Jersey imitation of Scarlett O'Hara, "If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about it tomorrow."

Ram just grinned at me. "So that's where you learned to live in denial? From watching 'Gone with the Wind'?"

I nodded. "Yep. One of my favorite movies after 'Ghostbusters'."

Ram shook his head. "Damn."

I grinned at him. "Why do you think I like you so much, huh? You kinda look like Clark Gable, with that whole dark hair and hunky lumberjack thing, and you most definitely can pull off that bad boy Rhett Butler vibe when you put your mind to it, mister," I teased.

I got the flashing dimples that made my stomach clench. "Clark Gable?"

"Yep."

He moved quickly so that I was sprawled on top of him as he reclined on the couch. "Frankly, my dear," he drawled in a credible imitation of Rhett's accent, "I do give a damn."

I grinned.

"Now here's a sailor who loves you, Steph," he said, "and who wants to go into battle with the memory of your kisses. So kiss me, Stephanie, kiss me!" he called out dramatically.

I was giggling manically at his efforts to quote the movie as well as his over the top smacking kisses all over my face.

I kissed him back and then turned my head away. "Let me alone!"

"Never," he declared with another kiss, which wasn't so much of a joke.

I grinned and kissed him gently. When I tried to roll off of him, he tightened his arms around me. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"To move so I don't squish you."

He snorted. "As if. Please, sweetheart, you couldn't squish me if you tried. Tank, yeah. Santos, maybe. You, absolutely not. So you're going to stay right there where you are."

"Spend a lot of time under Tank and Les, do you?" I asked.

He slapped my ass teasingly and I squealed. "Hey! No fair hitting!"

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" he offered.

Yes. "Answer the question, mister."

Ram just grinned up at me. "Not on purpose, no. But sometimes when we're sparring or practicing moves, we'll end up in awkward positions. So yes, I know how damn heavy they are, and they know how much I weigh, too," Ram said. "And you weigh nothing at all."

"Watch it, Pinocchio, or your nose is going to start growing."

I got a wicked grin from my cushion. "Honey, it's not my nose growing you should worry about."

I blushed and he smiled. Then he kissed the tip of my nose and I tucked my head against his shoulder.

_**Author's note: **__ Just decided to throw out a little mid-week chapter as a bonus. It's not very long, but I promise the next update will be longer. _

_Should Frank try to get a paternity test on Val, or just let it go? How do you think Val's going to react to all the rumors? How's the Burg going to react?_

_Let me know what you think!_


	14. Gone with the Wind

_**Chapter 14**_

We lay cuddled together on the couch for a while, his arms around me and one hand gently stroking up and down my back lazily. I realized I was about to fall asleep, so I forced myself awake.

"Alright, we have to get up or I'm going to fall asleep," I announced.

"And that would be a problem how?" Ram asked.

"Being my personal body pillow can't be all that thrilling of a way for you to spend your day," I argued.

"I can't think of anything better," he told me. "So go on to sleep. I'll be here to chase away the Yankees if necessary, Scarlett."

"Oh, fiddle-dee-dee."

He chuckled, which made me vibrate.

"No, come on," I said reluctantly. "I don't want to go to sleep."

"Why not? Great way to spend a lazy Sunday."

"Really? When was the last time you took a Sunday afternoon nap?" I challenged.

"Never had you here to be my cuddle buddy before," he told me.

I laughed. "Cuddle buddy?"

"Something wrong with that?"

I snuggled in closer. "Not even a little bit." I paused. "But you call me your cuddle umpkins and I'm going to kick you."

He shook his head. "I don't even know what a cuddle umpkins is, so don't be worrying about that."

"Good. It's one of the many idiotic pet names my sister has for her husband, Albert. And it makes me want to puke."

"Puking is bad."

"Yep. So no cuddle umpkins."

"Got it, gorgeous."

"Much better."

"I aim to please."

"So I see."

He lay there complacently for another minute. "Alright, Rhett, up and at 'em. Atlanta's burning while you're fiddling, or something like that."

Ram sat up. "Mixing metaphors, gorgeous. That was Nero and the burning of Rome."

"Whatever, a city was burning. Just be impressed I knew that much. Come on, I'm feeling antsy."

His smile fell off his face. "Everything okay?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. Just feeling twitchy somehow. Probably because a million Burg busybodies are talking about me."

Ram heaved himself to his feet. "Trust your instincts, sweetheart. What are they telling you?"

"To run away and never come back."

"We can do that. You pick the place and I'll start packing. Just make sure it's pet friendly for the dogs and Rex."

I grinned at his earnest tone. "Really? You'd do that for me? Just run away?"

He pulled me into his arms. "If it came down to it, yes. Half the people in this town treat you like shit, and I don't like it. So if you want to move to someplace else, I'll support that. But I'm going with you, and you're the one to tell Santos we're leaving."

I had to smile at the idea of what Les would say. "He'd probably go with us."

"I draw the line at adopting him. Hell, I think he's a few months older than me!"

I chuckled. "Think of him more as the annoying little brother type."

"Done."

That made me laugh out loud again. "He just rubs you the wrong way, huh?"

"I'll get over it, I'm sure, but we're so new that it still annoys the hell out of me to see him grabbing you and all that," Ram admitted sheepishly. "I know he would like to be more than just friends with you, no matter what he might say. A man can tell."

"Oh he's told me that he's more than willing to be a friend with benefits," I told Ram, who did not look happy at my announcement, "but I don't work that way. I know it, he knows it, you know it. So don't worry, we'll only ever be friends. He flirts because it's his nature, not because he's trying to cause problems with us. Remember, he's the one who got me thinking about you as more than just a friend and workout buddy, so believe me, you don't have to worry about him."

"I know, it's just…" Ram trailed off. "It's just hard. I've had too many relationships where I thought things were going okay, I'm gone for a couple of weeks on deployment and then I get that letter that they've found someone else already."

"Do you really think I'm like that?"

"No, I don't. I'd stuck with casual for the last several years just because I wasn't willing to risk getting hurt again. No one seemed special enough to really try again. Until you. I trust you, really, I do. I know you're loyal and that you'd never cheat on me. But still, despite knowing that I can trust you, hell, that I can even trust Santos not to do that to me, it's going to take me a little bit of time to get secure enough that I can see another man putting his hands all over my girlfriend and not want to rip his head off."

I laughed. "I get that. After everything with The Dick and now Morelli, it's hard for me to trust that you're not going to cheat on me too. And if some girl comes up and starts hanging all over you, she's probably going to be missing a large chunk of her hair and have a couple of black eyes."

Ram grinned down at me, his blue eyes twinkling merrily. "You've got a little jealous streak, too?"

"A little. But it can turn on you, too, so don't think you can get me all jealous and it'll work out well for you," I cautioned. "If you try to make me jealous on purpose, it'll destroy my faith in you and that'll be the end of that."

"I wouldn't do that to you," he promised solemnly, the smile slipping from his face. "I'm glad you trust me and I'd never do anything to lose that."

I smiled up at him. "Ditto."

"So getting back to the start of this conversation," Ram said with a smile. "You were feeling antsy. What should we do about it?"

I got a smirk on my face as I twined my arms around his neck. "Well, you didn't seem to approve of my attempt at distracting myself last night, so what do you suggest?"

Quick as lightening, I was up in his arms as he wrapped my legs around his waist. "Gorgeous, I never said I didn't approve. I damn well did, and you can feel free to distract yourself anytime you want. I just didn't want it to go too far and for you to be upset about what happened. But if it's distraction you want, I can try to be the Bombshell for the day and keep you well and truly distracted."

I smiled at him and leaned in for a kiss. Now that we were the same height, with me twined around him like a climbing vine, his lips were easy to reach.

"So I can use you as my distraction anytime I like?" I asked with a grin.

"Sweetheart, you can use me for you anything you want anytime," Ram replied with a wicked little smile bringing out his dimples.

"Duly noted, Mr. Ramsey," I said in a breathy, Marilyn Monroe voice.

Ram groaned. "Ms. Plum, you note that where ever you like. Hell, get it tattooed on your forehead if you want!"

I grinned and leaned back a little. "Do I look like Cal to you?"

That made him laugh out loud. "No, sweetheart, not even a little bit. And I've never been in this particular position with Cal either."

"I should hope not! You'd throw out your back trying to hold him up like this!"

Ram chuckled again. "Probably so."

I unhooked my legs from Ram's waist reluctantly, but as much as I might want to be distracted (and dear God, did I), I didn't think I was quite ready to take that big step in our relationship just yet. He let me down with his own show of reluctance, but he didn't try to keep me where I didn't want to be.

Oh, but I really wanted to be there. I just didn't want to rush things and screw up what might be the best relationship I'd ever known.

"Alright, so I think you'd get me a little too distracted if I'd stayed wrapped around you like a boa constrictor," I said. "What else do you have?"

Ram smirked at me, his eyes still smoldering. "Gym?"

"Already did that with you and Les."

"Head to the pool and swim a few dozen laps?"

"Why do all your suggestions involve an elevated heart rate?"

"'Cause I'm just good like that?" he told me with a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Try again."

"Movie marathon?"

"Now you're talking. What do you have?"

He led me to his DVD collection but I didn't see anything that jumped out at me. "I'm set up with streaming online," he told me. "So if it's available online, we can watch it on the big screen."

Ram had a pretty big TV in his living room. I'd known men with bigger TVs in even smaller rooms, but from what I'd seen and felt so far, Ram didn't have to overcompensate by having a big TV.

"Since it's apparently one of your favorites, how about 'Gone with the Wind'?" he suggested. "I haven't seen it in years, and from what I remember, it's pretty long."

I snorted. "Uh, yeah, it's pretty long."

He shrugged. "That would keep us occupied until time to make dinner, then," he said practically. "But I don't have a real strong preference one way or the other. So if you'd rather watch something else, that's fine with me too."

"Any kind of movie you don't like?" I asked, curious.

"Not really a fan of horror or war movies," he admitted. "Just don't like the torture porn stuff and I've been in enough combat situations that watching movies about it just isn't my thing."

I nodded. "That's fine with me. I'm more of an adventure or comedy girl, personally. And given my past, I loathe horror movies. They hit a little too close to home."

His arms tightened around me a little.

After a bit more discussion, we did end up settling on 'Gone with the Wind' since neither of us could come up with anything else that sounded interesting and I didn't really want to go out to the actual theatre to see a new release. I was taking dad and grandma's advice to lay low seriously.

We didn't talk much during the movie. Ram had to shush me from saying all the lines along with the actors once or twice, and we exchanged the occasional comment, but we mostly just sat comfortably next to each out for a couple of hours while I was engrossed in the drama revolving around Scarlett O'Hara and Tara.

And I thought I had problems. Ha!

Once the movie ended, with me nearly crying in sadness for poor, deluded Scarlett, Ram and I made dinner together and then took the dogs out into the backyard to play for a while.

Ram had one arm wrapped around me while we sat at the picnic table and watched the dogs race around, happily chasing each other.

"You going to be okay here alone tomorrow?" he finally asked. "Or you want me to call Santos and take tomorrow off too?"

I roused myself out of my stupor. "Oh, no. I'll be fine. I'll just hang out here where no one from the Burg can find me," I assured him. "The dogs and I will have a perfectly wonderful lazy day. No need for you to take another day off just to babysit me."

"Steph," he said warningly. "It's not babysitting. It's being there for you when you're having a bit of a rough time."

I leaned against him. "I appreciate that. But there's really nothing you can do about it. I'm glad you were here today, it helped having you here to keep me a little distracted, but it is what it is. I have to deal with it at some point, and you have to go back to work at some point. Might as well be tomorrow."

"You know you can call if you need anything," he said. "Or you can just come by the office for lunch. I'm sure Ella and the rest of the guys would love to see you for a little while."

"Now there's a thought. You think it would be okay?"

"I'm sure it would be, but we can check with Santos or Tank if you want. They're in charge when Ranger's away."

I pulled out my cell phone and grimaced. I had a gazillion missed calls. "Can I use your phone instead? I don't even want to look at the new messages on mine right now."

He just handed over his cell phone. "It's under S for Santos."

I texted Les and signed it from me. Less than two minutes later, I had an enthusiastic response from Les demanding that I get my fine ass to RangeMan for lunch the next day or he'd come find me and it wouldn't be pretty.

I looked up at Ram to grin. "Les is demanding I show up for lunch."

"Told you so."

"No one likes a know it all."

"I think you like me just fine."

I smiled. "True."

We sat at the picnic table as the sun set and twilight draped over his big backyard. It wasn't until I shivered slightly that Ram said we should head in. I tried protesting, but he insisted it wasn't yet warm enough to stay outside really late. The days were getting warmer, but the temperature still fell quickly once the sun set, so I couldn't really disagree.

"Sometime soon, we'll be able to stay outside until midnight and still be comfortable," he said. "But not yet. Come on, let's get you inside and warmed up."

I stood and headed back into the house with him, the dogs trailing after us. Ram fed them and then they both settled down on their beds to rest after their rambunctious play had worn them out.

We sat on the couch and watched a game while I mostly thought about the implications of my grandma spilling the beans on my mom. She treasured her much vaunted position within the Burg more than anything, even me, and she'd most likely lose that, or at least see her halo severely tarnished.

I wondered if she'd find a way to blame it all on me? After all, she blamed everything else on me.

"Not if she wants to live," Ram said decisively.

I blinked at him to focus on his intense blue eyes. "Pardon?"

"I said, your mom better not try to blame all of her shit on you if she wants to live."

"Crap, was I talking out loud again?"

"Just a little, and the only part I could hear was you wondering if your mom would find a way to blame all of this on you since she blamed everything else on you," he said. "And I was just saying that she better not."

I tried to smile at him but I must not have succeeded very well since he clicked off the TV and scooted closer, wrapping both arms around me and pulling me flush against his hard body.

I was tempted to distract myself again, but it wouldn't be fair to him if I wasn't yet ready to follow through.

I just sighed and melted against him. "Sorry. Turn the game back on."

He shook his head. "You're more important. Besides, it's a blowout."

"Oh."

He just held me for a little while longer. "I'm still on board with the shipping her to Mongolia idea," he told me.

I smiled against his shoulder. "I wish."

"Or we could move to Tahiti."

"I really wish!"

He chuckled. "I can make that happen, sweetheart."

"Don't tempt me, mister. You know how much I love the beach!"

He brushed my wild curls back from my face to press a light kiss on my temple. "I know. And now that it's getting a little warmer, we need to go to the beach some weekend soon. I believe you promised to show me a bikini."

I had to rack my brain to remember that promise when he'd first taken me swimming. "You tell me when and I'll pack every bikini I own," I promised.

Ram nodded. "I'll talk to Santos about getting an extra long weekend off," he said resolutely and I wouldn't be surprised if he came back with a date tomorrow.

I found the remote and turned the TV back on. "Blowout or not, it's got to be more interesting than listening to me breathe," I told him.

"Sweetheart, I don't know if you know this or not, but I was a sniper in the SEALs," he said slowly.

I nodded. "Les alluded to it when he said he wouldn't want to piss you off because he'd never see you coming and you could kill him from a mile away."

Ram nodded. "Yeah. And I'll remind Santos of that the next time he grabs you in front of me. But part of being sniper is sometimes having to stay in position for days waiting for your target. Sometimes I was just getting intel to report back, sometimes… not. But either way, you're there for days on end and you can't hardly move. The human eye is much more adept at picking up movement than anything else. You have to train yourself to be able to sit still for hours or days with nothing to do."

"That sounds like my idea of hell on earth," I said honestly.

Ram barked out a laugh. "Yeah, it's not for everyone. It takes a lot of patience and a certain mental ability to leave one part of your brain attuned to the job at hand and aware of all of your surroundings while the other part is able to sort of disconnect. I think you call it going into our zone. We still know what's going on around us and we can react in a split second, but you're also thinking about other things at the same time."

"Yeah, I don't have this ability."

"I could try to teach it to you, if you want," Ram offered.

"No thanks, I don't think I'd need it that much. Plus being all fidgety on stakeouts with you guys is way too much fun."

Ram grinned. "I knew you did that on purpose."

"I'm pleading the fifth. And you're bound by boyfriend code now, and you can't tell anyone anything that I say, so there."

"Boyfriend code?"

"Yep. It's like doctor-patient or lawyer-client confidentiality. You can't tell anyone anything confidential I tell you, and this is confidential."

"Does this apply to you as well and anything confidential I tell you?"

"Yep."

"Alright. But anyways, as a trained sniper, I'm certainly able to handle holding you for as long as you need without getting bored or fidgety or anything. I don't need the TV to distract me. So don't worry about me, you just do what you need to do, okay?"

I climbed into his lap, enjoying it when his eyebrows shot up his forehead. "This is what I needed to do," I said as I cuddled against his chest. "Now watch your game and just let me sulk about my mom in silence. I don't want to accidentally take my anger at her out on you."

He chuckled slightly as his arms tightened around me. "You sure like surprising me, don't you?"

"Absolutely."

"But for the record, if you need to let some of that anger out, I can take it and I won't take it personally if you want to yell at me or whatever."

"Thanks, but I hate it when I take my anger out on the wrong person. It just makes me feel awful that I've yelled at the wrong person and then I'm still pissed at the original person. So it doesn't do any good for me to yell at you if I'm really mad at my mom. So I'll do my best not to take it out to you. But trust me, if I ever get really mad at you, I'll definitely yell at you if you deserve it."

"Okay. But I'm here if you need anything."

I kissed his throat. "I know. Thank you."

"Yes, ma'am. I'm shutting up to let you sulk in silence now."

"Smart man."

He was silent other than an occasional grunt at the TV and he just let me stay on his lap and mull through the whole damn screwy situation.

I had come to no resolutions later when the game ended and Ram sighed softly. "You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah. Fine. They just don't know how to catch a damn ball," he grumbled. "Paid millions of dollars a year when soldiers and sailors make a fraction of that and they can't even play the damn game right."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. It's disgraceful. It really should be that our military and teachers and nurses and people like that get paid the millions while athletes and actors and actresses get peanuts," I agreed.

He just nodded.

I leaned back a little and checked the time. Whoa. "Wow, you probably need to get to bed if you have to work in the morning," I said.

"I'll be fine."

I rolled my eyes. "Listen here, Mr. I don't need sleep like mere mortals," I said in a slightly harsh tone, "you do need sleep like all the rest of us ordinary people, and you should have told me to get off your legs and hour ago so you could go to bed already!"

"I don't usually go to bed until around now," Ram said calmly despite my tone. "And I'm the first one to admit that I need sleep. I don't need eight hours like most people, I function just fine on a regular basis on less. Part of it's the training, and part of the reason why I was able to survive the training is that my biology and physiology allows me to function fine on less sleep. Some people naturally need more sleep and some people naturally need less. I just need less. And if I ever do need to go to bed and you're still awake, I'll let you know this."

I deflated slightly. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay. Like I said, if you need to get some of your anger out, I can take it."

"I'm sorry," I said contritely. "I didn't mean to. I was just worried about you."

"Thank you for worrying about me, but you also need to trust that I'll take care of myself too," he said with a smile as he gave me a kiss. "But it's nice to have someone to worry about me just a little bit."

I kissed him back. "I'll try to keep it limited to just a little bit, how's that?"

"Perfect."

Then he stood, with me still in his arms. "Now, my perfect Plum, it's time for bed," he said as he carried me towards the hallway and the bedrooms. He let me slide down his big body as we got to the end of the hall.

"You're welcome to sleep with me, no strings, if you don't want to be alone," he said, "or you can stay in your own room. It's up to you."

I nibbled on my lower lip for a minute. "Would my being there with you disturb you?" I asked a little hesitantly. As much as I hated to admit it, I wanted to be next to him. I was still feeling a little discombobulated and he made me feel better.

"Not at all. I might even sleep better if you're next to me since I won't be trying to listen to see if you need me."

"Well, if you're sure…" I paused to give him time to change his mind.

"Go get ready for bed, sweetheart. I'll see you in bed in just a minute," he said with a gentle kiss on my forehead.

I went into the guest bathroom I'd used the night before to brush my teeth, wash my face and get ready for bed. Then I changed into his Navy t-shirt and left on my lounge pants from earlier.

When I walked softly into Ram's bedroom, he had a bedside light on and he was already in bed. Waiting on me.

Gulp.

"Maybe this wasn't a great idea," I mumbled.

He just held out his arm to me. "Nothing will happen, Steph. I promise."

I swallowed and looked up. "But what if the problem is that I want it to?"

He beckoned for me to come closer. "Until you're really sure in the light of day, nothing will happen. But thanks for the compliment. It does my ego good."

I smiled a little at that and stepped closer, taking his hand when he offered it to me and he drew me closer to the bed. "Do you sleep on the right or left?" he asked.

"Don't know."

He shot me a quizzical look. I shrugged. "I haven't shared a bed with someone in so long that I don't think I really have a side of the bed. And I should warn you that I'll probably end up on top of you anyways. I'm a pretty, er, active sleeper. If that's going to bother you, I'll go back to the guest room."

Ram chuckled. "No, that's fine. No man in his right mind would ever object to you being on top of him sweetheart."

"Guess Joe wasn't in his right mind then," I muttered.

"I agree. But how do you mean?"

I sighed. "We hadn't really shared a bed in a long time. I mean, yeah, for that, but then he'd get up and leave. Either he'd go home or if I was at his house, he'd go sleep in the guest room. He said I moved too much."

"The man's a moron."

I grinned. "No argument's here."

"It's a big bed, and I'm sure we'll be fine," Ram said as he pulled back the covers to the king sized bed. "And I promise not to complain if you end up on top of me."

"Can I get that in writing?"

"Sure, go grab me a pad of paper and pen and I'll write up whatever you as long as it gets you in this bed."

I put my hands on my hips. "So you only care about getting me into bed, huh? Typical man!"

He grinned and pulled me into the bed, catching me as I fell forward. "I'll have you know that I care about a good deal more than that, Steph."

I smiled up at him. "I know."

Then I crawled over him, getting a started yelp as he moved quickly to protect his assets from my elbows and knees.

"I would have moved over!" he said.

"I know, but the alarm clock and lamp's on this side, so obviously this is the side you sleep on," I said logically. "And since I don't care which side I sleep on, I'll sleep on the other side."

He chuckled. "You're pretty observant."

"On a good day."

I crawled under the blankets and sheet then and snuggled up to Ram. "Didn't you forget something?" he prompted.

I mentally ran through my nightly checklist. Brush teeth? Yeah. Wash face? Yeah. Brush hair, for what little good it would do? Yeah.

"Um, I don't think so?"

"You don't have to wear sleep pants if you don't usually," he explained. "You weren't wearing any last night."

Ah. "I don't usually, but it seemed to, uh, get a reaction from you, so I figured it would be safer to wear them."

Ram chuckled. "Sweetheart, you'd get a reaction from me if you were dressed in a burlap bag. If you're more comfortable without pants when sleeping, take them off. I'll behave as long as you do."

"See, here's the problem. You're sexy as all hell and I can't promise that I'm going to keep my hands and all other body parts to myself in my sleep."

Ram groaned and closed his eyes.

"So having the sleep pants on will be one more layer between us," I explained.

He opened his eyes to look at me. "You really think a layer of thin cotton will have that much impact?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. But at least this way, we're not totally skin to skin from the waist down."

He cursed very quietly for a few seconds. "Stop talking or you won't have to worry about those pants once I rip them off you."

Is it hot in here under all these blankets?

He reached over and turned off the lights and then curled around me, pulling me against him, my back to his chest, but his hips nowhere near mine as he angled his lower body away. "Go to sleep, sweetheart," he ordered in the deepest voice I'd heard from him… today.

I smiled to myself and complied.

I felt his breathing even out and his muscles relax after only about two minutes of silence. I tried to match my breathing to his, focusing on the rise and fall of his chest against my back, and then I drifted off to sleep too.

_**Author's note: **__Wow, thanks for all the awesome reviews! I really appreciate them, especially after this exceptionally crappy week. My aunt died (not the wife of the uncle who died last month, I don't think my cousins would have survived that, but my dad's oldest sister), and it's been tough trying to get back to work and such. Your reviews definitely made me smile this week, so thank you so very much!_

_I hope you enjoy this chapter. Let me know what you think!_


	15. How much is your car insurance?

_**Chapter 15**_

When I woke up the next morning, I was alone. The sunlight was streaming in through the cracks around the edges of the curtains. I stretched languidly

I glanced around and found myself in the middle of Ram's big bed. Yeah, I guess I don't really have a side. I just take it all.

I glanced over to check the time, and there was a folded note blocking my view of the clock.

I flipped it open to find a note from Ram. I snatched up my cell and dialed his phone number.

"Ramsey," he replied.

"Are you freaking insane?" I demanded.

There was a five second pause. "I'm not generally considered to be, no."

"You want me to drive your truck to Haywood? That leads me to question your sanity! You know I'm hell on cars!"

I got a low chuckle in my ear. "I know, sweetheart, but I figured with the tinted windows and the fact that it's pretty common to see my truck going in and out of RangeMan, no one would question it, so no one would think it was you. So all those gossips wouldn't try to bother you."

"That's real smart, sailor man, but still dangerous for your insurance premiums!"

He chuckled again. "Any crazies after you?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then I think you're probably safe to drive it to Haywood and back," Ram said. "I should be back in the office around noon or one and I can have lunch with you then, but I'm sure the rest of the guys will be happy to see you if you want to head over earlier. And bring your gun, we can to do a little target practice."

I groaned loudly and Ram laughed.

"I have to go now, sweetheart, we're trying to find a skip in the Burg."

"Who?"

"Gerald Stankovick."

"Oh Christ, what's Gerry done now?"

"You know him?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend Mary Lou's husband's cousin. I went to school with him and he was a troublemaker back then, too."

"He assaulted a woman at a club, and put her in the hospital when she didn't want to go home with him. He really worked her over, and since it wasn't the first time he'd been in trouble for violence against women, he was out on a pretty high bond, so he's worth a pretty penny to RangeMan."

"Most all of his family thinks he's bottom feeding scum," I said. "I think Mare said that only another cousin named James or John or something like that hung out with Gerry a lot. But his parents cut him off a long, long time ago when his drinking got so bad and he kept getting in trouble. If I remember correctly, his grandpa or someone left him some rundown house on Vine Street back when I was in college."

I heard the sound of papers rustling. "Yeah, 4297 Vine Street."

"Gerry's not stupid, he'll know you're looking for him, so I doubt he'll be there," I opined. "He's an asshole, but only stupid when he drinks, which is too damn often. If there's a family member named James or Jimmy or something with a J, check him out. I can also call Mare and get the cousin's name and address," I offered.

More paper flipping for a minute. "No, I've got a Jonathan Stankovick listed as a known associate on here," Ram said a minute later.

"That's him. John," I said. "Try him."

I thought hard. "John's an asshole too, from what I've heard. Big dude. Not like you guys, but bigger than the average person and a bit of a bully. Guess that's why he and Gerry were so close, they're both bullies."

"So we might need backup?" Ram asked.

"Better safe than sorry," I said. "I would, if I were you. Gerry was a real asshole when we were younger. The kind of kid who'd hurt people just because he could, but he'd never do it when there was a teacher or anyone around. He's not dumb, just a freaking sociopath. And from what Mare's said, John's similar. So I wouldn't go in after him without backup if it was me. If I'd gotten his file, this is one case where I'd have definitely have called in you guys for help."

"Thanks, sweetheart. We'll go and stake out this John's house and if there's any evidence that Gerry's there, we'll get some guys to back us up before we go in."

"Be careful, please," I said softly.

"We will. I'll see you soon."

I luxuriated in Ram's big bed a little big longer before I finally got up. I ate a couple of slices of toast with peanut butter and fed Rex before taking a shower and getting ready for the day.

I'd played with the dogs for a while, talked to Rex and then checked my cell phone. I read the texts but ignored the voicemails. I wasn't ready to deal with those yet.

I got bored after a while, and I don't do bored well, so I decided to head on over to the RangeMan offices.

I called Les from Ram's house before I headed over.

"Santos," he snapped.

"Uh, bad time?" I asked.

"Sorry, Beautiful," he said in a more friendly tone, "just a little crazy at the moment."

"Okay, just call me later."

"No, it's fine," he said. "I think we're done here anyways."

Then the phone was muffled for a second but I could still hear him, albeit not as clearly. "You fuck up like this again and getting your ass handed to you on the mats will be the least of your fucking problems. You got it?"

"Yes, sir," someone said weakly. I couldn't identify the voice.

"Get out," Les snapped. "Okay, I'm back, Beautiful. What's up?"

"Oh, wow. Playing the badass today, huh?"

"Everyday, Beautiful, every damn day," Les said and I could hear the grin. "Only I ain't playing. You're the only one who doesn't think I'm a badass."

"Oh, I know you can be. I just know you like me too much to be that mean to me. Plus you guys can't handle seeing me cry." And hearing Les talk to me like that would pretty much guarantee that I'd cry. Once I was alone.

"Hell, no," Les agreed. "Please, pretty please, tell me you're on your way over here. I could use a little something pretty in my life today."

"Yeah, I was calling to see if it was okay if I came over a little early."

"Drive fast. I'll be in my office."

I started to reply but then I realized he'd already hung up. Sigh.

I backed cautiously out of Ram's garage and let out another sigh, this time of relief, when I didn't hit anything. Thank God.

I was to Haywood in only seven minutes. I still had my key fob, so I pointed it at the control box and beeped it to get in. "My" spot was open, so I parked in it. Hey, it was closer to the elevator.

I popped out on five to find Les waiting for me. He dragged me into his arms for a hug and he just rested his chin on the top of my head. "Hey, Beautiful. I really needed this."

I hugged him back. "Hey, Les. What's wrong?"

Les just shrugged and then stepped back. "Step into my parlor, said the spider to the fly."

I grinned but followed him into Tank's office. Tank and Bobby were already there, pouring over paperwork.

"Hey guys!" I said with a delighted smile.

Bobby flashed me a megawatt grin. "Bomber, you're a sight for sore eyes!" I walked over to hug him.

"Yeah, I've missed you too, Bobby."

He hugged me and then held me at arms length so he could examine me critically. "Looking good there, girl. You keeping up with your workouts?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, drill sergeant."

Bobby grinned at me. "Good recruit."

Then I looked over at Tank. "Hey, Tank."

"Bomber."

"You need a hug, too, Big Guy?"

He looked like he was thinking about smiling. "Yeah, why not?"

I was surprised, I had really expected him to shake his head no, but I'd offered. So I went over and hugged him too. Well, as much of him as I could reach.

"What's up, guys?"

"We got a problem, Beautiful, and we need your help," Les said as he plopped down in a chair.

"Oh crap," I said reflexively. "You're screwed!"

Les cracked up. "No, we just need your help. Ram called in and told how you were able to help him out in trying to find a skip earlier today. That's the kind of help we need."

I relaxed. "Oh, okay. So who is it? Someone else from the Burg?"

"Bigger than that," Bobby said.

I looked over at him and raised my eyebrows, both of them, damn it.

"What we're trying to say is that we need you to come back to work here," Les said. "We need someone who can do the background checks on the skips and clients and not screw them up. Someone with the kinds of connections you have to get info that you have at your fingertips without even realizing it. Face it, we need you, Beautiful."

I was shaking my head. "You two know why that won't work," I said as I nodded at Les and Bobby. "I can't. Ranger'd have a fit when he gets back!"

"We don't care what Ranger says," Tank said calmly. "If he doesn't like it, he can kiss my big black ass. We're running the show now, and we can outvote him when he's back. But we need you now."

"The phone call you heard was me yelling at the new guy we'd hired to do the research," Les said with a tired swipe at his eyes. "Third one we've tried in the last six months. You remember how one nearly got Ram killed when we hired the wrong brother? This one's even worse."

I narrowed my eyes to glare at Les. "That's a low blow and you know it."

"It's the truth, though," Les said. "We've tried having the guys do their own research, and they're no good at it either. We have Stark Street informants but we don't have many Main Street informants. We need your help on this, Beautiful. Please."

I sighed. "You guys suck."

Les shot me a piratical grin. "Only if I'm asked nicely and she does too."

I rolled my eyes. "TMI."

Bobby and Tank grinned at us. "Let me think about it, alright? How many hours a week do you think you need help?"

"As many as you're willing to give us," Tank said. "We have enough for you to be full-time if you want, with benefits, or you can do part-time. We'll take whatever you're willing to give us."

Bobby's cell phone went off then and he checked the message. "Damn, gotta go," he said as he jumped to his feet.

"Someone hurt?" I asked anxiously.

Bobby stopped to stare at me. "No. Why?"

"Just curious," I tried to say casually. I hadn't heard back from Ram, and when Bobby's phone had gone off and he jumped up to leave, I was sure it was because Ram or Cal or someone was hurt. "I haven't seen you move that fast unless it involved blood and guts."

Bobby shot me a grin. "Or a sexy lady."

"Again, TMI."

Bobby laughed. "No, Ram and Cal just spotted their skip and requested help with their take-down, so Hal and I are going to be back up."

"Good luck. Those guys are bad news."

Bobby paused to kiss my cheek as he headed out. "We'll be careful."

"You better be!"

"Hal! Let's roll!" he yelled as he ran out of the room.

I turned back to Les and Tank. "Ranger will beat you both if you hire me," I warned.

They both replied with feral grins. "He can try," Tank said.

I leaned back in my chair and studied them. "Why me? Surely other people have these types of connections too. Connie does. Why not her?"

Les slid his chair over next to mine. "Because she's not you, Beautiful. She could get the information we asked for, but you know what to ask for without us telling you. You have a nose for figuring out stuff. Connie's great at what she does, but she can't do this. Just doesn't have that innate grasp of what's important and what's not. When you did the research before, you'd highlight important stuff and then use a sticky note to flag the really key stuff. It saved us all a ton of time and probably 99% of the time, you picked up on little details that we wouldn't have. We're the brawn, but you're the one who can find them."

I wrinkled my nose at him. "I don't know. Ranger will kill me."

"No, he won't, Little Girl," Tank assured me. "And if he tries, I'll kick his ass."

"I'd pay to see that!" I said with a grin.

Tank smiled at me. "That can be arranged. What are you willing to pay?"

"Dinner at Shorty's?"

"Deal."

Les snorted. "Tank's always been cheap and easy."

"So you probably find him devastatingly attractive, huh?" I teased.

Tank scared the hell out of me when he busted out into a booming laugh. "He better not!"

Les blinked at me for a second before grinning at me. "Naw, just his sister!"

That stopped Tank's laugh and he glared at Les. "Santos!"

Les just grinned unrepentantly at Tank. "Yeah?"

"You mention my sister again and I'll rip your little pencil dick off and shove it down your throat!" Tank threatened.

Les just shook his head and grinned. "Tank's just mad cause his sister's got a little crush on me," Les confided.

"If you take advantage of my little sister, they will never find any part of your body," Tank fumed. "I swear to God."

"Damn," I muttered. "I'm out of here. I'm not going to get caught in the middle of World War III!"

Tank was still muttering vile death threats when I slipped out the door with Les hot on my heels.

_**Author's note: **__I'm a bit behind in responding to reviews because of a crazy week at work (I didn't leave until nearly 11 pm one night!), but I love them like Steph does both Ben and Jerry, and I'll do my best to respond this weekend._

_Let me know what you think of this chapter!_


	16. Revelations - of a good kind

_**Chapter 16**_

I hung out in the control room chatting with the guys for the next hour. I was sitting next to Zip in his cubicle chatting when my cell phone buzzed. I'd been checking it obsessively, but so far, each message hadn't been Ram.

This time, it was Ram. _Hey sweetheart. I'm in the breakroom. Where are you?_

I grinned at Zip. "Ready for lunch?"

We headed into the breakroom and found most of the guys not stuck on monitor duty in there chatting with Ram, Cal, Bobby and Hal about their take down. I stood back and listened for a minute before Ram spotted me.

"And here's the reason for our success!" he said as he stood and made his way over to me. "Thanks for the help, sweetheart."

I smiled. "You're welcome. Glad you were able to get him okay."

Then he leaned down and kissed me on the lips, and not just a peck either, and the room went deadly silent for a few seconds before erupting into noise.

I blinked in shock and then turned to Ram. "They didn't know?"

He shrugged. "I figured Cal or Santos would have said something by now."

Bobby turned and punched Les in the arm. "You knew?"

Les punched Bobby back.

"Guess not," I said.

"What's going on in here?" Tank bellowed over the noise.

"Ram kissed Stephanie!" someone said, but I couldn't catch the voice.

"So?" Tank asked. "Everyone kisses her."

"Not like that," Manny said in exasperation. "Like a real, hello nurse! kind of kiss."

Tank turned to look at us and raised one eyebrow. I shrugged. "I figured you all knew by now."

"Knew what?" Tank asked.

"That we're dating," Ram said as he settled one arm around my waist and pulled me close.

The room went nuts again.

"How the hell did you get her to date you?" Zero demanded.

I glared at him. "He asked, nimrod. Same way any guy would get me to date him."

Les and Cal were smirking mightily to be the only ones in the know. I shook my head. "I honestly can't believe you two kept your mouths shut," I said. "I was sure everyone knew by now, so I didn't think anything about it."

Cal pointed at Ram. "If you heard all the things he threatened to do to me if I said anything, things I know he can do because I've seen him do them, you'd have kept quiet too!"

I looked up to grin at Ram, who smirked at Cal. "Alright, you did good keeping your mouth shut," Ram acknowledged. "Thank you."

Les just sauntered over to ruffle my curls. "Not my tale to tell, Beautiful. If I want you to be able to trust me, I have to prove I'm trustworthy."

I pulled away from Ram for a second to hug Les. "Thanks," I whispered. "I don't really know what it's like to not have people gossip about me."

Les hugged me back. "Beautiful, as long as you aren't in danger, I promise not to ever break a confidence. Okay?"

I nodded. "Thank you. Ditto for you too, if you ever need to talk."

Les winked at me as I settled back against Ram, his arms both around my waist as my back was to his front.

"Shit, how long's this been going on?" Zip asked.

I shrugged.

"Officially, just a week," Ram answered. "But unofficially, a month or two."

"A month or two!" Vince yelped. "How the hell have you managed to keep it that quiet?"

"I don't run my mouth about things when it's not necessary," Ram said calmly, but from the tenseness in his muscles, I knew he wasn't entirely calm. Without thinking, I started stroking his arms wrapped around me to help soothe him. It worked, and I felt him relax incrementally.

"It's not like we were trying to keep anything intentionally secret, but we went from casual friends and sometimes co-workers to very good friends to more than friends. It was just a natural progression that just kind of happened. Then we just asked Cal to keep it quiet until we could tell my family, because you all know how freaking nuts my mom is and I didn't want to give her more ammunition against me." I had to swallow hard. "Not that it mattered," I muttered softly.

Ram turned me in his arms so I had my head lying against his solid chest. "Shh, sweetheart. We have a shipping crate for Mongolia ready to go."

That made me smile, and I could see Les nodding his head vigorously like a bobble head doll out of the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Steph," Vince said softly.

I turned my head enough so I could look at him. "You've heard?"

Vince nodded solemnly.

"Tell Terry I said hello, and to text me if she needs to reach me. I've stopped listening to voicemails."

Vince flushed a dull brick red but finally nodded.

"Heard what?" Manny asked.

"You know what? I really don't want to think about it," I said. "Who's got something I can blow up instead?"

Ram laughed. "I think I promised firearms training. How about we take some sandwiches down to my apartment on four and then you can go shoot the shit out of some paper men?"

"Sold."

"But what happened? Is she in danger?" Manny asked.

"Les can tell you. Or Vince, apparently," I said. "I'm pulling a Scarlett and not thinking about it today."

Then I looked up at Ram. "Come on, Rhett, let's go."

Ram grinned but let me pull him over to the sandwiches and snacks. I picked out a turkey sandwich and an apple while he selected two roast beef sandwiches and a banana.

We went to his efficiency apartment on four. It was tastefully decorated and very clean. God, I love Ella.

Ram rustled up some potato chips to go with the sandwiches and we sat at his bar to eat our lunch. Once we were done eating, Ram pulled me over to the couch set in front of the entertainment center. He didn't turn on the TV, but just pulled my head over to rest on his shoulder.

"How are you doing, gorgeous?" he asked me softly.

I shrugged. "Pretty much okay. The guys, Les and Bobby and Tank, asked me to come back to work here part-time or more to help do the research on skips to help like I did with Gerry this morning."

"Are you going to?"

"I don't know. Ranger will shit a brick, I think, when he gets back if I'm working here."

"Ranger can go for a long walk off a short pier," Ram said.

I laughed.

"Sweetheart, Santos and Brown and Tank can take care of themselves. And they're co-owners of the company. So if all three of them want you here, then I don't think you need to worry about what Ranger thinks. They'll protect you from any fallout. Do what you think is right for you."

I turned to look at him. "But what about us? We're just really starting to date, and I don't want to risk screwing it up by me coming to work here."

Ram shot me a blindingly sweet smile before he was kissing me. "And you don't know how damn happy it makes me to know that you'd be worried about that, about us. But don't. We've basically been working together for months now, just not officially. This really wouldn't change it much, if at all. If you want to come to work here, I'll support you 100%. If you don't, I'll support that 100% too. It's really up to you."

"You're not going to try to tell me what I should or shouldn't do?"

"You're a grown woman, a damn smart woman with incredible instincts. You're fully capable of making your own decisions."

"Damn, I could really fall for you," I mused.

I got another smile. "Good, my evil plan is working."

I grinned at him and he kissed my nose. Then he kissed my lips and we spent a few very pleasurable moments lip-locked until he pulled back with a slight groan.

"Alright," he said after a few seconds to catch his breath, "let's go to the range and work on your shooting skills."

My turn to groan.

Ram grinned at me. "If that doesn't work out your need for violence, I can get some of the other guys to spar with you. You seemed to have a good time dropping Santos on his ass yesterday."

I chuckled and let him pull me to my feet. "You know I can't really spar with any of you guys!"

He stopped to look at me. "Martial arts style sparring, then no. But I've mostly been working with you on effective take down moves that will work regardless of the size of the guy you're up against. I'd be willing to bet that you could get most any of us down to the mats long enough to stun us at this point. You've worked hard at this, sweetheart, and don't try to diminish your accomplishments."

I wrinkled my nose at him in disbelief.

"I'm serious. You've been working out and practicing with me several times a week for a couple of months now. Your skills have improved dramatically. You can take in skips with very few problems now. You can chase them down and get them in cuffs without getting really hurt. A few bruises don't count, we all get those sometimes, it's the nature of the job. You're a damn fast learner and I'm really impressed by how fast you've picked it all up. If you want to learn more, then I'm definitely happy to teach you, but you've done an incredible job in stepping it up, Steph, and I'm so proud of you."

I pulled his head down so I could kiss him.

"Thank you," I said softly. "For helping me and for even believing in me in the first place."

I got a soft smile in return. "You're welcome, sweetheart." Then his smile widened. "But you're still shooting today."

I mock pouted. "Damn."

He grabbed my hand and pulled me to the door and then we took the stairs, damn stair lover, down to the gun range in the basement. I reluctantly pulled my little .38 out of my purse.

"So first, do you like this gun?" Ram asked as he examined my gun and then tsked at how dirty it was.

"No, I don't like any gun."

"How does this one feel when you fire it?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, does it fit your hand well? Does it kick back too much for you to control?"

"Um, I don't know."

"So why'd you pick out this gun when you got it?" Ram asked patiently as he carefully inspected my .38 and started cleaning it.

"I didn't pick it out. Ranger did."

Ram looked up at me, startled. "You didn't choose your own gun?"

I shook my head no. "Ranger said it would fit me best of the options at Sunny's."

Ram shook his head. "Damn. Okay, we're starting over. Come here, sweetheart."

He led me over to a several huge black safes built into the wall and then pulled out his keys. He opened one and started pulling out trays and trays of handguns.

"I want you to pick each one up and see how it fits in your hands. With a full clip, the semiautomatics will weigh a little more. The grip should fit securely in your hand and you should be able to wrap your hand all the way around it and not have to stretch your fingers to make it fit, but your fingers shouldn't overlap hugely either. It shouldn't feel too heavy, like you can't hold it up. Once you've narrowed them down, we'll test fire them to see what you like," he said with a big grin on his face.

Hmm. This is like the guy version of a big shoe sale at Macy's, I think.

I sighed but started picking up guns. I immediately realized that none of the big guns that the guys liked would even remotely work for me and the criteria Ram had. They were all too damn big and felt like they weighed forty pounds in my hand, even if I could even come close to get my hand all the way around them. So I focused on the smaller guns on the third tray he pulled out.

It took a while, but I finally narrowed them down to five options. Four were semiautomatics and one was another type of revolver.

"So why do you have so many semis?" Ram asked as he started getting clips and bullets for the guns.

I shrugged. "They just felt better in my hand, mostly."

Ram nodded. "Okay."

He loaded all six guns, the five I picked out plus my now sparkling clean .38 that he'd stripped and meticulously cleaned while I'd played with all the guns.

Ram had me put on safety goggles and then he showed me how to load and unload the clips from all of the semiautomatic guns. Once I had that part down, he put ear protectors on us both and pointed us towards the paper target at the end of the lane.

I fired a few shots and then felt Ram's hand on my shoulder. I put the gun down, like he'd told me to do if he touched me, and turned to him. He pulled my ear protectors off of one ear.

"Can I help adjust your stance?" he asked.

I nodded.

Then he stepped up right behind me, so close I could feel the heat pouring off of him as his body almost, but not quite, touched me from shoulders to knees. I bit back a moan.

He used one foot to nudge my legs farther apart so they were now just about shoulder width apart.

"Pick up your gun," he said softly, "but keep your finger off the trigger."

I did and held the gun out in front of me. He pulled my shoulders back so I was standing like I would in a tight little black dress. "Shoulders back, stomach in," he said. Yep, it was exactly like I was in a little black dress.

He moved the hand that was supporting the gun slightly so I had a better grip and pulled both hands up a little so the gun was higher and more in line with my eyes.

"Feel okay?"

I nodded, feeling incredibly turned on at his sheer confidence.

He made a couple of other minor adjustments. "Okay, when I put the ear protection back on, you can fire at will. Any questions first?"

I shook my head no and he first fixed his hearing protection and then mine. I took in a half breath like he told me and let it out slowly before pulling the trigger. The gun recoiled, but it wasn't nearly as bad. I blinked in shock.

I felt Ram's presence at my back but he hadn't touched me again so I kept firing. My aim had always been pretty good, but it was much better now.

When the gun clicked instead of firing, I put it down carefully and turned to face Ram as I pulled off my hearing protection.

"Wow!"

Ram grinned at me. "Feel better?"

"Yeah! How'd you know to do that?"

He shrugged. "I'm the range instructor for Trenton. Shooting's what I know best," he said modestly.

"Is there anything you aren't good at?"

"Sure, lots of things," he said instantly.

"I don't believe that," I said a little enviously. "So far, you've been damn good at everything."

"I just don't do the things I suck at where people can see me fail," he explained. "But I'm not good at everything, not even close."

He tilted my chin up so I had to look at him. "What's going on in there?"

I just shrugged. "You're so damn good at everything. I guess I'm just a little jealous."

"Sweetheart, I was a SEAL for over ten years. I spent a hell of a lot of time learning to shoot and fight and all of that. You didn't see all the times I missed my target or got my ass handed to me by someone better than me. But I kept trying, just like you have, and I learned and I got better. I've spent over fifteen years now in either the Navy or with RangeMan working on these skills. And you've done incredibly well learning everything, but you have to go through the same learning process we all did. You try. Sometimes you'll get it right and sometimes you'll get it wrong, but you just keep trying and learning. You'll get there, sweetheart, but it doesn't happen overnight."

I sighed. "I know. I just feel like such a loser compared to you guys sometimes."

Ram pulled me tightly into his arms. "I don't ever want to hear you say that again. You are not a loser. You're wonderful. Do you know how damn good you've gotten after really just a couple of months of work? It's amazing. I'll do my best to never lie to you, Steph, and I'm not lying now. It's really incredible. If you keep working like you have been, I fully expect you to be just as capable as any of us – within your limitations. You don't have the physical strength we do because you don't have our bulk, but you're damn fast and a hell of a lot more flexible than most of us, which you can use to your advantage against big guys like us. I wasn't as good as you are after only a few months, I can tell you that much."

"What was that about not telling lies?" I mumbled.

"I'm not lying. I've been bigger than you are now since I was probably fourteen. So I used my size as my advantage. But I can't tell you how many times I got thrown on my ass or whatever in training when I was learning, just like you are now. The thing about being a SEAL is that it's only partially physical. Yeah, you have to be able to do the basic physical things, but it's mostly mental. You have to have the tenacity to never give up no matter what the odds are. You have to keep going despite exhaustion and overwhelming fatigue. You just keep pushing on. And that's what you have, in spades. The main reason why most men wash out of BUD/S training, that's the first part of SEALs training, is because they can't cut it mentally. It's hard. It's brutal. But it's mostly the mental stuff that makes people quit, excepting the few guys who get hurt and are forced to stop. And you never give up, even when everyone tells you that you should. You just say 'screw you all' and keep going. And that's what makes a sailor a SEAL and that's what makes you so special."

I leaned back within his arms so I could look up to gauge his sincerity. He seemed to be telling the truth. "Really?"

"Really. So you just keep working, whether that's with me or if you'd rather work with someone else now that we're more than just workout buddies, and I promise, you'll get where you want to be."

I went on my tiptoes to kiss him and he met me halfway. "Thank you for believing in me."

He brushed the curls that had escaped from my ponytail back and tucked them behind my ears. "Always. And you're welcome." Then he kissed me ever so gently. "Now get back to work."

I mock groaned and he slapped my tush gently.

"So how'd that one feel?"

We went through this for the next couple of hours. I'd fire a few shots and then Ram would slightly adjust my stance. Then more I practiced, the less he had to adjust me.

By the end, my hands and wrists were tired and a little sore, but I found that I liked the smaller Glocks. Ram was pleased with my choices and promised that he'd get some prices from some of his gun distributer colleagues for me to review.

Les came in to chat as we were sweeping up the spent shell casing from my range time. "So how'd she do?" he asked Ram.

Ram just pointed at my target still hanging. Les walked over and whistled. "Damn, Beautiful! This is great!"

I smiled. "You really think so?"

"Come here," Les ordered and I walked over.

"How many rounds did you fire?" he asked.

"Um, I forgot. How many rounds were there in each clip?" I asked over my shoulder at Ram.

"Ten."

"Then ten."

"And your ten shots are all clustered within a couple of inches around the heart. And that's really damn impressive for someone who hates her gun and never uses it!" Les said.

"Les, I hate my gun because the few times I have used it, I've killed someone."

Les got quiet and then wrapped an arm around me. "I know, Beautiful. It's hard. But you didn't have a choice in the matter. They were going to kill you. And I'd much rather have you around than those bastards. And honestly, they wouldn't have lived long anyways, because we would have taken them out for hurting you, so it's just better all around that you're here and okay."

"I don't like killing people."

"None of us do. We're not psychopaths. But we do what we've been ordered to do or what we have to do to keep the country or this city safe. It does weigh on us all, the things we've done. But we do what we do so that other people can live their happy and safe lives without worrying about the animals out there who do like to kill, who do like to hurt others. It's not an easy life we've chosen, Beautiful, but we didn't make the decision to kill anyone who died at our hands. They did. We just happened to be there when karma bit them in the ass."

"So that's how you deal with it?"

"That's how I deal with it," Les said. "I don't like killing, but I do what I have to. I think about my sisters, my nieces and nephews, and I do what I do to protect the innocent and beautiful people in the world, like you."

I hugged him. "Thanks, Les."

He just nodded, lost a little in his own world now.

Ram came over to put a hand on my shoulder as I kept one hand on Les' arm. It took Les a minute to come back from wherever he'd gone in his mind.

He grinned at me. "You did a really great job, Steph," he said sincerely.

"I know I hate my gun and all, but I'm not all that awful with it," I said in mock outrage. "Even Eddie said I wasn't too bad!"

"Eddie? I thought Ranger picked out your gun?" Ram asked.

"Ranger picked out my gun, but Eddie taught me how to use it."

"Wait, Ranger didn't teach you how to use the gun he picked out for you?" Les asked. "What the hell? And why didn't you pick out your own gun?"

"That's what I'm saying," Ram said. "She likes the smaller Glocks better than the .38, so we're going to get her one of those. She can use the .38 as a backup piece."

"Well, I'd just met Ranger and he was really busy," I explained. "So he helped me get the gun at Sunny's and I shot a little, but then he had to go. So once I realized Ramirez was after me, I got Eddie to take me to the range and really teach me how to shoot it. He said I wasn't half bad once he got me to keep my eyes open when I shot."

"Still," Les said implacably. "If you're going to help someone, you help. You don't do it halfway! If he got you the gun, he should have taught you how to fucking use it!"

I put my hand back on his arm to calm him down. "It's okay. I figured it out. And Ram's helping me get better with it now, and better late than never, right?"

Les shook his head. "I'm going to kick his ass when he gets back. And you're actually damn good, a real natural."

I rolled my eyes at him.

"See, I told you that you were a natural," Ram said smugly. "Now you've got independent confirmation."

"Yeah, from two biased sources."

"Beautiful, we wouldn't be biased about this," Les insisted. "Encouraging that you'd get better with practice even if you sucked like a Hoover, yeah, but we wouldn't tell you were really good if you really weren't."

I bit my lip to hold back a grin. "I don't know, Les. I have a feeling you'd love nothing more than to blow smoke up a woman's skirt."

Les burst out laughing. "True. But not you and not your skirt, because Ram would fucking shoot my balls off with his fifty caliber."

Ram grinned. "If I got the shot lined up right, I could take off the whole kit and caboodle with one shot."

Les grimaced. "Damn. Remind me not to piss you off."

Ram smirked. "Just stay away from her skirt and we'll be good."

Les shot him a sloppy salute.

"Even I know that was pathetic," I said. "What would your drill sergeant have said?"

Ram laughed. "My petty officers would have told me to drop and give them twenty."

I turned back to Les, who shot me his patented crooked grin and hit the ground and punched out twenty perfect push-ups in twenty seconds before leaping back up to his feet. He snapped to attention and executed a recruiting video worthy salute. "Ma'am."

"You give me the power to make all the guys do push-ups at my whim, and I'll definitely come back to work here," I said with a giggle. "Damn!"

"Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," Les said with a smile, not even a little bit winded. He sucked.

I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned wider at me. "Alright, since you like push-ups so much, let's go to the gym. I haven't got my work out in yet, had some stuff I had to do this morning, so come on, Beautiful, you're allllll mine now, and I'll make you do some push-ups!"

I stepped back against Ram. "Sorry, no workout clothes," I said with an insincere smile.

"I'm sure Ella can find something for you," Les said as he advanced on me. I watched him warily.

Ram chuckled. "If you want to, sweetheart," he said. "I have to do some work up on five for a bit, but you can go work out with Santos, hang out with the other guys or you can take my truck home if you'd rather."

"How would you get home?"

"I can catch a ride from someone, that won't be a problem."

"Will you promise not to be too evil to me?" I asked Les.

He nodded. "Okay, then if Ella still has clothes around for me," I agreed. "But if you turn into some sort of evil drill sergeant, I'm leaving!"

Les grinned. "I'll go call Ella. You'll be in Ram's apartment, I'm guessing?"

I nodded.

"Come find me in the gym when you're changed," Les said.

"Remember, Santos," Ram said with a wide grin across his handsome face, "Barry and I will be watching."

"Barry?" I asked curiously.

"My Barrett fifty caliber sniper rifle," Ram explained. "In my opinion, it's the best sniper rifle ever made."

Les winced and continued on his way with a wave.

"You like teasing him, don't you?" I asked Ram.

The grin on his face was answer enough.

We finished putting up all the guns and headed back up to Ram's apartment. Five minutes later, Ella knocked on the door. "Hello, dear," she said with a warm smile.

"Hello, Ella!" I said with my own smile. "How have you been?"

"Oh, I'm just fine. It's so nice to see you back here again. Lester said you were going to the gym with him and needed some work out clothes, so I brought you some down. Do you need anything else?"

I shook my head. "No, thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it."

"Will you be here for dinner this evening?"

I turned to look back at Ram. "Up to you, sweetheart," he said.

"I've got lasagnas baking in the oven upstairs," Ella said to tempt me. "And if you're going to stay, I could be persuaded to make you a cake."

I moaned. "Ella, I adore you!"

Ella laughed delightedly. "So what kind of cake do you like, dear girl?"

I opened my eyes to look at her. "I've never met a cake I didn't like, and I've never had anything of yours I didn't love!"

Ella absolutely beamed at me. "Aren't you sweet? Well, let me go upstairs and see what ingredients I have on hand, and I'll be sure to bring you and Ram down dinner personally."

Then she left and I sighed happily. "I really love that woman. You think I could get her to adopt me?"

Ram chuckled. "Sweetheart, I think she just did."

I changed into the workout clothes she's brought for me, black form fitting yoga pants and a black tank top with a racer back. She'd even included underwear, a sports bra, socks and sneakers. All in black.

I came out looking like a mini-RangeMan.

Ram chuckled when he saw me. "You ready to work out with Les, sweetheart?"

No. "I guess."

"He's a little intense sometimes about his workouts, but if he pushes you too far, just tell him he's gone overboard and I'm sure he'll back down. Or if it gets too bad, call me and I'll bring Barry down to remind him. Actually, I might do that anyways, just for fun."

"Guys have a weird sense of humor."

Ram didn't dispute this. He just gave me a blazingly hot kiss and headed off to five while I went to the gym.

Les was already on a treadmill when I got there.

I got a big beaming grin. "You actually came!"

"I told you I would if Ella could find clothes for me," I defended.

I was drawing attention from the couple of other guys down there. "Bomber's in the gym?" Woody asked. "So the apocalypse is here, huh?"

I flipped him the bird.

Les rubbed his hands together in glee. "Ah, goody, our first victim just volunteered! Woody, in the ring, now!"

"Aww, man, what'd I do to piss him off now?" Woody complained but he climbed off the weight bench he was on and into the ring.

"You'll need the pads, all of 'em," Les ordered.

Woody paled. "Um, sir, what did I do?"

"You're going to be in there with Stephanie," Les said with a big grin.

Woody paled even further. "You'll kill me if I hurt her! And Ram will do even worse!"

I glared at him. "And who says you'll hurt me?"

"Sorry, Bomber," Woody said, "but I'm at least twice your size. I don't see how I wouldn't hurt you if I was really trying."

"You hurt her intentionally, and I'll make you beg for your mommy," Les said seriously. "But you'll be working on holds and releases only, so nobody should be hurt as long you wear your pads and nobody gets stupid."

Woody looked a little happier. "Okay, that I can do!" He went over to a cabinet against the wall and started strapping on pads. He vanished into the bathroom for a minute and came out empty handed. I knew from previous practice with Ram that this meant he'd gone to put on an athletic cup.

Les got into the ring with me while Woody was getting suited up. "Alright, Beautiful," Les said. "So we're going to work on ways for you to get out of holds just in case someone does grab you."

"So I should just let him grab me, then?"

Les grinned wickedly. "I never said that."

I laughed out loud. "You're evil."

Les twirled his imaginary handlebar mustache. "Guilty as charged."

I was still chuckling when Woody clambered in wearing an extra ten pounds of pads.

Les stepped out of the ring. "Okay, Woody, grab her."

Woody grabbed for me and I danced out of the way. Woody frowned at me. "Bomber, I'm supposed to grab you."

"Yeah? And in what world would I just stand still for some bad guy to grab me?" I teased.

Woody grinned, his blue-grey eyes lighting up as he lunged for me. Just as I had done with Les, I sidestepped him and then swept his feet out from under him when he was off balance.

He landed with an oomph.

"Damn, where'd you learn that move!" he asked as he got to his feet.

"Ram."

Woody grinned again. "Feeling playful?"

"Don't hate the playa, hate the game."

He came at me again and I grabbed his arm, ducked under it and then used my leverage to force him to his knees. Woody was struggling against me, but if he moved much more, I'd dislocated his shoulder. He kicked back at me and caught me knee, taking me down to one knee and getting himself free. He rushed towards me, but I shot one arm up into his stomach, stopping him as he drove himself onto my straightened arm.

"Oomph!" he said as he staggered back slightly. I jumped up, keeping my eyes locked on Woody as he rubbed at his padded stomach and caught his breath.

"Quite a punch there, Bombshell," he complimented.

"Thanks," I said as I watched his shoulders, trying to anticipate his move.

We rolled around like this for nearly twenty minutes before he finally got me in a hold. There had been several times where I could have either stunned him or cuffed him if it had been real life, but it was only practice, so I didn't.

"Alright, Steph," Les said as I was tucked tight against Woody's chest in a bear hug from the back. "How are you going to get free?"

I was close enough to the corner of the ring that I kicked out with both feet and pushed hard against the rail and shoved back as hard as I could. Woody staggered back, off balance from the sudden movement, and his arms loosened as he fought to keep from falling down.

As soon as I could move my elbows, I startled wiggling frantically. With Woody still fighting to regain his equilibrium, he had no choice but to let me go or fall down with me on top of him.

Once I was free, I spun around and punched at his throat, pulling the blow so I didn't even touch him.

"Damn," one of guys around the ring said. "If she hadn't pulled that, he wouldn't be breathing!"

I wanted to look to see who it was, but Les hadn't called the round yet, and I'd learned sparring with Ram to never take my eyes off my opponent.

Woody had a wide-eyed look of appreciation, but he charged at me. I waited until he was almost in reach and then dropped to all fours. Woody couldn't check his forward momentum and went flying over me, landing on his face.

There was a wave of laughter. "I got that one from the Three Stooges," I said with my own laugh.

Woody rolled to his back. "What'd I ever do to you?" he asked humorously as he got to his feet.

"You didn't do anything to me," I said with a shrug. "But you got on Les' shit list somehow."

Woody just grinned and rolled his shoulders before rushing at me again. We kept this up for a whole hour. The other guys were calling out tips for both Woody and me. I used some of them, and Woody used a few as well.

Finally, Les stepped back in. "Alright, stop."

I flopped down to the mats, my black clothes soaked in sweat.

"So, gentlemen," Les continued. "Who do we think won this little war?"

There were shouts of Stephanie and Bombshell and Bomber. None for Woody.

Woody came over with a big grin and offered me his hand. "That was damn good, Bomber," he said. "You countered just about everything I threw at you, and you were able to get out of all of the holds I did manage in just a couple of moves."

I took his hand and he pulled me to my feet and then held my arms over my head. Oh God, did I shave my armpits this morning?

"The winner!" Woody yelled. I got a round of applause and I was grinning so wide I figured my face would crack.

I looked around and the crowd was freaking huge. It had only been a couple of guys at the beginning, but now, it looked like almost all of the men in black were here, including a beaming Ram.

I blinked at the crowd. "When did everyone get here?" I asked in wonder.

They all laughed. Ram pushed his way to the front and held the ropes for me to climb down. "You did exactly as you were supposed to, and you focused on the target and blocked out all the extraneous stuff."

"Yeah, I heard the suggestions some of you shouted at me, but I didn't stop to think about how many of you there were!"

Ram lifted me down from the edge of the ring and then pulled me into a crushing hug. "You did great!"

I smiled at him. "Thanks to you!"

He kissed me hard and long.

My eyes were crossed and my toes were curled in my Nikes when he pulled back. "No, sweetheart, I was your instructor, but you get all the credit for asking for help and then doing all the work to learn this," Ram said. "You did great!"

I shook my head and blushed, but no one would be able to tell because I was already red as a tomato from the exertion of trying to stay away from Woody for an hour.

"Hey, Woody, what's your background?" Ram asked.

Bobby was helping Woody strip off all the protective gear. "Recon Marine for eight years, and on the Dallas PD for three years after that," Woody said.

"So it's safe to say that you're much better trained that any typical skip would be?"

"That would be a hell yeah," Woody said. The other guys chimed in their agreement.

"Sweetheart, he couldn't get you pinned. And he was really trying, weren't you, Woody?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Woody said in his west Texas, slow as molasses on a cold winter's day drawl with a beaming grin. "I really was trying to grab you, Bomber. But you're too damn wiggly! I couldn't ever get a good grip! Well, not without grabbing some part that would get me shot!"

I started giggling and all the other guys were laughing too. Even Ram was flat out laughing.

"Yeah, but Woody wasn't trying to hurt me. He was afraid of what you and Les would do to him if he broke me," I argued. "Real skips wouldn't just try to grab me. They'd try to hurt me."

"Stop trying to diminish your accomplishments," Les ordered. "You kept a Marine and ex-cop from getting you down to the ground for an hour. That's pretty damn impressive. Most of the new recruits can't manage that."

"Are you going to kill him if he hurts one of the new recruits? 'Cause I distinctly remember you threatening him if he actually hurt me," I shot back with my hands on my hips.

"You gonna keep arguing with me, Beautiful? Or you just going to take the compliment?" Les said with a smile.

"I don't know, I kind of like arguing with you," I said with a wink. "It's very fun."

Les shook his head while the other guys laughed.

"Beautiful, how long have you and Ramsey been doing self-defense training?" Les asked once he got his own laughter under control.

I looked back at Ram. "Um, couple of months."

Ram nodded. "Little over."

"So two and a half months?" Les pressed.

"Something like that," I agreed.

"How often?"

"Uh, it varies depending on our schedules. It's been more often since we started getting closer," I said. There were catcalls and hoots to that, so I flipped the guys off. They laughed. "On average, probably six to eight hours a week."

"So, you've spent two and a half months doing about six to eight hours of training per week, right?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"Army basic training is about ten weeks total. So you've essentially gone through basic training here, but you're good enough after that to manage to keep a Marine with his pride on the line from taking you down. That's damn impressive. I don't care what you say, I'm going to be impressed, and you can't stop me," Les said. "And if you're as smart as you've proven yourself to be before, you'll be impressed too!"

There was a murmur of agreement.

"He's right, sweetheart. If Woody flipped and lost his mind and really wanted to hurt someone, could you take him down easily, no. Could you take him down in the end, it's possible. You're good at spotting openings and going for them, so yeah, it's possible that even if Woody wanted to hurt you that you might be able to take him down first, especially given how good you were in the range. A loaded gun and the will to use it will trump any wackjob with a knife, any day. Just in hand-to-hand, you might not be able to get away without injuries, but if he and I were really fighting to the death, I probably wouldn't walk away uninjured either. When you're really in a true fight, you have to accept that you're going to get hurt. You just want to make the other person hurt a hell of a lot more and to make them hurt so bad that they can't come back after you, ever. And I think you've got the mental drive to do that, if you had to. You've actually already proven that you do."

I took a deep breath and looked at all the guys surrounding me. They all looked sincerely happy for me, and both Les and Ram had said they wouldn't lie to me.

"Thanks, guys. I'm sorry if I seem so, well, insecure, but I guess it's been a long time since I actually felt good about myself and anything I've done. I'll try to work on it, I promise," I said.

"No worries, Bomber," Woody said. "We'll help you to improve your self-esteem! Anytime you want to kick my ass in the ring, you just let me know."

I laughed, as Woody intended. "Thanks, Woody."

Ram started rubbing my sore shoulders and I moaned in appreciation.

"Damn, Ram, but you're a lucky man," Woody drawled. "Kicks ass like a gladiator, looks like an angel and sounds like a porn star. Shit man!"

I was laughing and moaning at the same time as he dug a thumb into a particularly tight spot.

Les was shaking his head. "Get her out of here before she starts a riot," Les ordered.

I pried open my eyes to stare at Les. "This was your bright idea, genius," I reminded him.

He looked bemused. "Don't remind me."

Ram leaned in to speak into my ear. "You sore, sweetheart?"

I nodded. "It took a lot of tap dancing to stay away from him, and a lot of effort to get loose when he got too close."

"Let's get you cleaned up and I'll give you a rub down," Ram said.

I moaned again and the guys groaned. "Out, Beautiful, get out!" Les chuckled.

_**Author's Note:**__ Sorry I missed my scheduled posting last week – real life's been kinda crazy, but I gave you a longer chapter this time in compensation. Please let me know what you think!_

_Thank you so much for all the reviews! They make me, so I appreciate them ever so much!_


	17. Hurt so good

_**Chapter 17**_

Ram took me back to his apartment on four, and we found a big salad, a huge hunk of lasagna and my favorite, an entire double chocolate fudge cake on the kitchen bar.

I was almost drooling at the mere sight. Surely I'd burned a gazillion calories today, right? I had earned that cake!

Ram grinned at me. "You want a shower first, or food first?"

I sniffed myself and made a face. "Shower first. I stink."

Ram chuckled and then headed into his bathroom. "Fairy godmother Ella was already here and left more clothes for you," he said. "And some hair stuff."

I followed him into the bathroom, and he was right, there was another set of clothes exactly like the ones I was wearing now, minus the sneakers, already laid out on the vanity, along with my shampoo and conditioner that I'd left on the seventh floor the last time I was there all those many months ago.

"Looks like you'll just have to use my soap," Ram said. "She must have forgotten your body wash."

I wouldn't tell Ram that she didn't forget my body wash because I'd never left any at Haywood. I just stole Ranger's Bulgari shower gel instead. It smelled so much better than anything I could afford at Target.

Ella had already set me out clean towels too. I swear, she's psychic. If only I could convince her to give me the lotto numbers.

Step one: get Ella to adopt me. Step two: get her to give me the winning Power Ball lottery numbers.

That sounded like a good plan to me.

"Give me a yell if you need anything else," Ram said as he headed out to let me get naked, wet and soapy solo. Pity. Aren't you supposed to save water and shower with a friend?

When I emerged smelling like Ram's Irish Spring soap and my fruity shampoo, Ram had the salad and lasagna plated and on the coffee table already.

I padded over and sat down with a slight groan.

Ram just grinned at me and pointed at the small white bottle next to my glass.

"Take a couple of ibuprofen," he advised. "It'll help with the soreness and the inflammation in your muscles."

I did, and then we ate Ella's amazing dinner. I knew the lasagna was probably made with whole grain noodles, ground turkey, low-fat cheese and had tons of veggies hidden in it, but damn, it tasted as good as any lasagna I'd ever eaten before.

I was stuffed after I ate the salad and lasagna, but I'm not a quitter. I was going to eat some of that cake if it killed it. It just might make my stomach explode.

Ram chuckled at me. "We'll take the cake back home with us, and you can have a slice once there's room in your stomach for it."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God. I was going to force it, because it looks too damn good and I never give up on cake, but I wasn't sure that it wouldn't kill me."

Ram shook his head. "I told you that you never give up."

"When it comes to cake, death before failure!"

He laughed and then stood, taking our plates to the dishwasher and quickly tidied up the kitchen while I got my clothes packed up in an old duffle bag he loaned me.

When I came out, he had the remaining chunk of lasagna in a plastic baggie sitting next to the cake in its plastic carrier.

Ram took the duffle bag from me and slung the strap over his shoulder. "Ready?"

I nodded, so he grabbed the cake.

"Stop," I ordered. He turned to look quizzically at me.

"The cake goes with me," I said as I held out my arms. "Hand it over."

Ram chuckled but handed me the cake without comment. He was kind enough to let me take the elevator down to the garage and then we drove home.

Once he got the food in the kitchen and the dogs had calmed down slightly at seeing us both! Back home! In one piece! Yay!, Ram turned to me. "You want to take a bath now?"

I looked at him in confusion. "Do I still stink?"

He just smiled and took my hand, leading me to his master bathroom. And his jetted tub. "No, you don't stink at all. In fact, smelling you smell like me is actually turning me on like you wouldn't believe. But the jets and the hot water might help with your sore muscles. But it's up to you."

I blushed, then leaned over and turned the water on. Ram chuckled. "So that's a yes, then?"

I didn't answer that ridiculous question. He opened a plastic bag and threw in a couple of handfuls of white stuff. "Epson salts," he explained. "They help with muscle soreness too."

"I'll take whatever I can get."

He kissed my forehead. "My robe's hanging on the back of the door. Give me a yell if you need anything. Otherwise, I'll be in the living room and we can have cake once you're done."

My eyes glazed over at the thought of cake and Ram chuckled. "Would that I could get you to look at me like that."

I grabbed his shirt and jerked him to me for a kiss. "Trust me, you can get me to look at you like you're made out of chocolate," I told him once I let him up for air. "But right now, I need those jets."

Ram stood up, straightened his shirt and shot me a smoldering look as he sauntered out of the bathroom, shaking his head and muttering under his breath. Something about suicidal women with a death wish.

I just waited for him to leave before I shucked my clothes and climbed into the rapidly filling tub with a happy moan.

"And stay away from my shower massager or you'll have company in that bathtub," Ram yelled at me.

I laughed, leaned back into the frothing water and relaxed.

Sometime later, a knock on the door pulled me out of my drifting thoughts. "Uh, Steph? You still alive in there?" Ram asked in an amused tone.

I snapped out of it. "Yeah. Why?"

"It's been an hour. Just making sure you hadn't fallen asleep and drowned," he said.

"Sorry. I had sort of dozed off a little," I admitted sheepishly.

"Kind of dangerous, sweetheart," he cautioned. "You know, SEALs always have a swim buddy in the water…" he trailed off suggestively.

"Nice try, Ramsey, but I'll be out in a minute."

"Worth a shot."

I laughed. "Soon, my sailor man, soon."

There were several thuds against the door. It sounded suspiciously like his head. "You okay out there?" I asked.

A string of muted curses from the other side of the door left me laughing as I grabbed the soap to wash up, just in case I'd missed any spots during my shower earlier.

Once all the now very cool water had drained away, I stood and dried off with one of Ram's big, fluffy towels. He may never get me out of this place now. His whole bathroom is so much better than mine.

I put on his robe, belted it tight, and then headed to the living room, feeling like a little kid playing dress up in his big robe.

"Ah, damn it," Ram said when he saw me.

I froze and looked down to be sure the belt hadn't come lose already. "What? You said I could borrow it, I thought," I said uncertainly.

"Yeah, but you look so damn cute in my robe that I can't stand it," he told me.

I wrinkled my nose. "Cute? That was the best you could come up with?"

"Best I can say that won't send you sprinting back to your apartment," he said wryly.

I grinned. "No way would I leave," I told him as I walked towards him.

He was watching me like I was his dinner and he was starving. "And why's that?" he asked huskily.

I leaned up to kiss his so softly it was a mere whisper of lip against lip before I pulled back.

"The cake's here!"

"You little witch!"

I started cackling at this and Ram grabbed me, lifting me up in his arms. "I'll get you, my pretty," he threatened, but he was smiling.

"And my little dog too?" I questioned.

"No, 'cause those are my dogs, and I like them," Ram declared as he carried me into the kitchen.

He set me down in front of the table where the cake was waiting, plates ready to be loaded with chocolately goodness. "Now sit down so we can eat this cake that you like more than me."

"Aww, is someone feeling jealous of a little cake?" I teased.

"Damn straight," Ram said. "My poor ego's shot all to hell."

"Aww, poor baby, want me to stroke your… ego?"

"Gorgeous, you can stroke anything on me you want," he said with his toothpaste ad grin that flashed both dimples at me.

I grinned and then cut myself a big slice of cake. My moaning had Ram wiggling around to try to get comfortable. "I'm sorry," I apologized. "I can't help it!"

"I know, I didn't say anything," he said.

"You look like you're being tortured," I pointed out.

"Oh honey, I am."

I blushed and he chuckled. "I've been through SERE training. I can take it."

I glanced at him questioningly. "Survival, evasion, resistance and escape. Basically, how not to get captured, and if you are, how to not break under torture and then how to escape," he explained. "Listening to you moan is way more fun than that."

I snorted. "I'm sure."

Ram grinned. "So am I, sweetheart, so I am."

I rolled my eyes at Ram, who just laughed. "I like crawling around in the dirt as much as the next guy," he continued. "But chocolate cake with a gorgeous woman? Yeah, definitely better."

"Such a charmer."

We finished our cake and then Ram put the lid back on the cake and stuck the plates in the sink. "Alright, what are you wearing under my robe?"

I shot him a naughty grin. "Just a smile."

He groaned loudly. "Go put on some clothes. Maybe a tank top and some shorts and I'll give you a rub down."

I shrugged and one of the shoulders of Ram's big robe slid off my shoulder. I pulled it back up. "I don't have any shorts. Can I borrow a pair of your boxers?"

"You're here to kill me, aren't you? I did something awful in a past life, and this is my punishment."

"Maybe I'm your reward for a virtuous life," I said with a grin.

He took another look at me in his robe, cursed and stalked away. Guess he didn't agree with that last statement.

I had to stifle a giggle. I knew I shouldn't laugh at his frustration, because karma's a heartless bitch and I'd certainly had many times in my life where I'd been in lust but couldn't touch, and I really wasn't making it easy on the poor guy. I needed to behave myself.

He came back out of his bedroom a minute later with a pair of boxers in his hand. "Here you go."

"I'm sorry for teasing you," I said contritely. "That was mean."

He pulled me against him for a quick kiss. "No, I love it when you tease me like that. I'm just teasing back."

I snuggled against his chest and his arms tightened around me with a happy hmmm sound. "You sure? I can stop being such a flirt," I offered.

"You better not. I love that you're comfortable enough with me to tease me and flirt with me like that," he said. "And I'll be very unhappy if I think I've made you stop."

I looked up into his serious blue eyes. "Okay. But if I push you too far, you just tell me, okay?"

He nodded and then kissed my cheek. "Okay. Now let's get you in bed."

I cracked up and he paused. "Steph?"

"Many have tried," I said with a grin. "Few have succeeded."

Ram grinned back at me. "Good thing I've never been a quitter, huh?"

I reached up to caress his cheek, loving it when he immediately closed his eyes and nuzzled his head against my hand like he was a giant cat. "Very good thing."

I rubbed my thumb over his cheek for a minute and waited to see if he'd start to purr. He didn't. "Alright, Ram, take me to bed."

His eyes popped open instantly and he saw my grin. "Ma'am, yes ma'am," he said with the sexiest smile I'd ever seen as he picked me up and carried me to the bedroom.

I was laughing and he was chuckling too as he set me gently on the bed. "Change clothes and I'll go get the lotion," he said.

"What on Earth do you think we'll be doing?" I asked in askance.

Ram completely lost it laughing. "Lotion so I can give you a massage," he choked out. "What did you think it was for?"

"I wasn't sure, and I wanted to make sure I knew before I agreed to anything!" I said sheepishly.

Ram left the room chuckling and I had to laugh at myself.

I changed while I thought about what had just happened.

You know, I'd never laughed this much with a man before. I'd been laughed at, yeah, but I'd never laughed _with_ a guy like this ever in my life. If I'd ever laughed at Joe, he'd have gone off the deep end, despite how often he laughed and joked and bet about my life. With Ranger, I didn't know him well enough to be able to really joke around with him very much, and he didn't do anything very humorous.

But with Ram, I could joke with him, tease him and he would tease me good-naturedly too. I never detected anything malicious or dark in his teasing or joking, and he never seemed angry or upset when I teased him too. Frustrated to the _n_th degree, yeah, but hey, I was right there with him at this point. I really needed to either put out or get out before we got in over our heads at some point.

Ram interrupted my musings by knocking on the door. "You decent?"

"Not according to the Burg," I said.

That joke fell a little flat. "Well, I think they're all nosy idiots, so I don't care about them," Ram said. "Can I come in there now without losing what's left of my grip on my sanity?"

I looked down at the tank top from Ella and Ram's black boxers. "Sure. I can't vouch for my sanity if you're half naked, though."

Ram chuckled but came in. He was still fully dressed, drat. "Alright, on your stomach."

I shot him a wary look. "I don't do any kind of butt stuff, just so you know," I told him primly as I rolled to the middle of the bed and lay on my belly.

Ram chuckled. "Thanks for the intel."

"You're welcome."

Then he groaned. "You're definitely out to punish me. How can you make my regular ol' boxers look that damn sexy?"

"God given talent."

"Well, thank you, God," Ram said as he settled in next to me on his king sized bed. I chuckled. Then he tucked my tank top up so it was more like a sports bra, squirted some lotion in his hands and started rubbing my still aching shoulders.

"Oh, sweet mercy," I moaned.

"Hurt?" he asked.

"Hurts so good."

"Never pegged you for a Mellencamp fan," he said as he continued to soothe my muscles.

"I'm a child of the eighties. Of course I know the John Cougar," I told him around my moans of appreciation and slight yelps of pain as he hit sore spots. "Oww! Do that again!"

I could feel the bed shaking from his chuckles. "Are you a closet masochist or something? You seem to be enjoying this pain a little much."

"Nooooo," I moaned as he hit the sore spot again, working out the soreness with his magic fingers. All attempts at conversation ceased as I was too busy with my opera of moans, groans, yelps and sighs to be bothered with such mundane parts of verbal communication as actual words.

Ram would occasionally chuckle but he didn't speak anymore either.

He just continued to work his magic down my body, working muscles I didn't even know I had, until I finally drifted off.

_**Author's note: **__Please let me know what you think of this chapter!_

_Thanks for all the reviews, especially the guest reviewers and those who have private messages turned off so I can't respond._


	18. Love and hate

_**Chapter 18**_

When I woke up again, I was draped over top of Ram's muscular and very still form and it was still dark out. What the heck? Why was I awake?

My bladder chose to remind me why I was no longer clutched in Morpheus' embrace.

I tried to disentangle myself from Ram, but he frowned in his sleep and clutched me tighter. Mother Nature was getting insistent and I didn't have time to wiggle away gracefully. "Ra-aam!"

His eyes shot open in the dim glow from the clock. "What?"

"Let me go! Now!"

"What's wrong, sweetheart?" he asked in confusion as he let me go.

I jumped from the bed, groaned loudly when that pulled on my sore muscles and then hobbled to the bathroom to the sound of Ram's understanding chuckles.

I walked back slowly a few minutes later. According to those charts they show of evolution, I'd evolved very quickly from being all hunched over and practically dragging my knuckles to walking completely upright. Yay me.

"Sorry," I said apologetically. "You wouldn't let me go, and it was getting urgent."

Ram just grinned, if a little sleepily. "No worries. I've been there before. How are you feeling?"

I shrugged and then winced. "Like some jarhead flung me around for an hour."

Ram chuckled. "Sounds about right," he said before he handed me a bottle of water and a couple more little brown pills. I took the ibuprofen gratefully.

"Do you think you can go back to sleep?" he asked as I crawled back into bed.

I looked at the clock and winced. It was 1 am. "Yeah. I'm so sorry for waking you up," I apologized again.

"Sweetheart, stop. When you gotta go, you gotta go. Just go back to sleep," he said as he turned to cuddle against me, pressing a kiss to the back of my head.

I was back asleep very quickly.

When I woke up the next time, it was normal person time of the day to wake up, meaning there was light outside. If God had meant for people to get up so early, He'd have told the sun to rise earlier than it did.

I stretched and then winced. Damn, but I was really sore all over. Woody had jerked me around quite a bit and I'd taken more than a few tumbles, but I hadn't expected to hurt this badly or I'd have never agreed to Les' idea.

I groaned as I laboriously rolled to the side. There was another note propped up against the clock. I read it and groaned. Ram said I needed to get up and move around today, or the muscles soreness and cramping would just get worse.

"Alright, if I have to suffer, Les has to suffer," I decided. I do not suffer gracefully or silently, especially when I can find a rational reason to blame all of my suffering on someone else.

Ram had left me his truck again in case I wanted to go back to the RangeMan offices or I needed to get out of the house.

I took a long shower, which helped to loosen my muscles some, and then got ready. I had to leave my hair down because I couldn't raise my arms above my shoulders long enough to put my hair in a ponytail.

Les was going to pay for this.

I got to Haywood and dragged myself into the elevator. I chatted with some of the guys in the control room, including a still grinning Woody. He looked like he was about to pat me on the back when I speared him with a glare. "Touch me again and die."

He looked taken aback as his sandy blond eyebrows furrowed together. "Bomber? What'd I do?"

"I've been shot and I hurt less than this," I informed the Marine.

Woody looked concerned. "I hurt you? How bad? How? I was trying to be careful! Aww, damn, they're going to kill me!" Okay, scratch concerned, he was flat out freaked out.

I had to calm him down before he packed his bags and ran away from Ram and Les. "You didn't hurt me, per se, but being flung around and diving on the mats and all that has me sore in places that I didn't know I even had," I informed him.

A light bulb went off for him. "Ah. You used muscles that aren't used to being used like that. Yeah, they'll hurt like holy hell for a couple of days," he said. "Sorry, Bomber."

"Not your fault. Well, it is your fault, but not totally," I amended. My thought processes only rarely made sense to me, and almost never to anyone else. "I'm mostly blaming Les," I assured him in the end as he just kept looking more confused the longer I talked.

Woody shook his head. "Thank God."

"You aren't completely off the hook," I told him. "If I can't walk out of here later, you have to get me to the elevator at least!"

Woody chuckled and promised to be my personal chariot should I so require him.

I hobbled my way to Les' office. The door was open, so I walked in unannounced. Les was working on his computer and spun around when he heard me.

"I hate you with all the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns," I told him as I crawled onto his couch and stretched out.

"What the hell, Beautiful? Are you okay?" Les asked in alarm as he jumped up from his desk and rushed over to me.

"No, I'm not okay. This former friend of mine had this bright idea to make me fight with a Marine, and now even my toenails hurt," I told him.

Les sat back on his heels as he examined me from head to toe. "How bad is it?"

"I look like a little old lady who lost her freaking walker, Les!"

Les chuckled. "You'll be fine," he assured me.

"I couldn't even tie up my hair in a ponytail!" I exclaimed.

"Want me to kiss it and make it better?" he asked in an outrageous tone.

"No, I want you to jump out of that window," I told him.

"Aww, poor little Steffie-weffie got a boo boo," he crooned. Sarcastic, sadistic motherfucking asshole. I was not pleased with him today. Can you tell?

"Do me a favor and smack yourself upside your pointy, sadistic little head. It would hurt me too much."

Les chuckled. "You need to get up and move a little," he said.

"I did. I moved from Ram's bed to your couch. I'm done."

"Sorry, Beautiful, but you need to move more than that," Les said seriously. "You've got lactic acid built up in your muscles and they'll hurt until you get it all out."

"Have I mentioned that I hate you?"

"I think so, perhaps in passing," Les said with another laugh. "Come on, up and at 'em."

"No, just let me die here in peace."

"You get up and walk around some, and I'll get you Pino's for lunch," he bargained.

I turned my head so I could watch him with one eye. "How much is some, and what from Pino's?" I'd learned my lesson with making deals with members of his demented family.

Les threw his head back and chuckled. "You stay on your feet for thirty minutes and I'll let you pick whether you want pizza or a sub."

"Deal. But I'll still hate you."

He shrugged. "I've been hated by a lot of women."

I snorted. "Now that I can believe."

He shot me his charming, crooked Santos smile. "But they all loved me in the end."

That I could believe too.

Les called Bobby to come and check me over before he let me loose on the building. Bobby clucked when he saw how sore I was and asked what Ram had done.

"Hot shower, hour in his jetted tub and a massage that put me to sleep," I told them. "He has magic fingers."

Les groaned and Bobby laughed. "Alright, sounds like he did everything he could physically to help mitigate how sore you'd be. Have you taken any ibuprofen?"

"Yeah, he's had me taking two of them every six hours or so."

"Good man. If it's so bad you can't move, I can give you some muscle relaxants, but I don't think you need them. You just gotta move those muscles to get them unlocked and all the junk out so they won't hurt anymore. Nothing will work for that except gentle movement and stretching and some time. Ibuprofen will help with how bad it hurts, but I don't have a magic pill for this."

"You'd be very rich if you did."

Bobby laughed. "Yeah, I would. Sorry, Bomber. Call me if it gets worse or doesn't get better in two or three days."

"Okay," I said. "So basically this is one of those things you just have to suck it up and push through?"

"Yup," Les said too damn cheerfully.

"I still hate you."

"I know, Beautiful."

Bobby was chuckling at us. "Her shit list's a bad place to be," he reminded Les.

Les nodded. "I know."

I headed out to the control floor to talk to the guys and try to get some movement back in my muscles. I was talking to Manny a long time later when I suddenly felt someone next to me. It hurt too much to move, so I just asked, "who's that?"

"It's just me, sweetheart," Ram replied. "How are you feeling?"

"I hate Lester whatever the hell his middle name is Santos."

Ram chuckled. "I figured." Then he dug his magic fingers into my shoulders and my knees almost buckled from sheer happiness. Ram rubbed my shoulders for a minute before gently pulling on my arms, stretching them wide.

I groaned as the muscles pulled. "Hurt too bad?"

"Everything hurts today," I complained. "I didn't expect this."

"You used muscles you haven't used like that before," Ram explained. "You were jumping and twisting and diving in ways I've never seen you do before. So yeah, you probably strained some muscles that weren't used to that level of exertion. It'll take a couple of days for the soreness to get out. Today will hurt the worst, and then it'll gradually get better. The more you push on through and move around a little, even though I know you don't want to, the faster you'll be back to normal."

"Oh, alright," I said with a sigh. "But damn, this really isn't fun."

Ram chuckled. "No, it's not, but we've all been there before, sweetheart."

He checked his watch. "Come on, let's go down to the gym and I'll help you stretch out a little before lunch."

"Les is getting me Pino's for lunch. He's trying to get off my shit list," I informed Ram. "I can have him pick you up something too."

"Sounds good, their meatball subs are great," Ram agreed. "You can stretch a little, then maybe some slow walking on the treadmill before lunch. I'm on monitors from three to seven, so you can hang out here, nap in my apartment or whatever and then we can go home."

"I love your plans," I said happily as Ram wrapped an arm around me and we headed, slowly!, towards the elevator.

"Where are you going, Beautiful?" Les asked as he came out of the stairs as we waited for the elevator.

"Gym to stretch because you're an evil asshole and I hate you," I told him with a straight face.

Les' lips twitched violently before he was able to reclaim his blank face. "Ah. Carry on then."

"Get Ram and me meatball subs at Pino's!" I yelled as he walked away.

"Yes, your majesty," Les called.

"He's learning," I said to Ram, who was laughing.

Ram apparently had mistaken me for a pretzel, because he twisted me into all kinds of weird positions. Some of them felt very risqué as he used his big body to apply pressure to my limbs to stretch them. I'm sure the guys on the monitors upstairs were getting quite a show, because if it felt that dirty to me, it had to look really dirty on camera.

I said as much to Ram, and he started shaking in laughter. "Yeah, they're all probably trying to figure out ways to kill me so they can ask you out," Ram agreed.

I shook my head. "No, they're probably just enjoying the live-action porn!"

Ram groaned and then bent me into another awkward position. The stretches pulled at my muscles and while it hurt, it felt good at the same time. It's hard to explain if you've never been there, but I get why Mellencamp sang about it hurting so good now.

Then Ram had me lie on my back and pull first one leg and then the other as high to my chest as I could manage. He was stunned at what I could manage. But judging from his wicked smile, not unhappy.

Once I had stretched all the major muscles, he set the treadmill to a slow walk for me and I walked for fifteen minutes while he lifted weights that were approximately how much I weigh. And no, I'm not saying how much I weigh.

"You may want to come back down a little later and walk a little more," Ram suggested once I climbed off the treadmill. "Like I said, the more you move gently, the better you'll be in the long run."

I nodded. My muscles still hurt, but I could move a lot easier than I could this morning.

I texted Les to meet us in Ram's apartment with the Pino's. It didn't seem fair to eat Pino's yumminess in front of the other men in black while they had to eat regular ol' sandwiches, even if they were Ella sandwiches.

"Still hate me?" Les said when he handed over the grease stained bag of food in Ram's apartment.

"As long as I still hurt, I'll still hate you," I informed him. "Once I'm no longer in pain, I may like you again. I may not. You'll have to wait and see."

He grinned. "Fair enough." Then he kissed my forehead. "I am sorry that you're hurting, Beautiful."

"I know. And it's not really your fault, but I don't like being in pain, so it's easier to deal with if I can blame you since it was your bright idea to make me fight for an hour with a Marine."

Les shrugged. "I can live with that as long as you're not really hurt."

"It really does hurt!"

"You know what I mean."

"I do, and I know you're just trying to help. Just next time, could you call the fight before I end up in traction?"

Les chuckled. "I'll try to keep that in mind."

The three of us ate our sandwiches and then Ram and Les headed back up to five to get some work done. I felt bad that I was screwing up his work, but he shushed me with a look.

I stretched out on his comfy queen sized bed for a bit. His apartment was an efficiency, only a little bigger than my dorm room when I was in college, even if it was much nicer. It was set up so the kitchenette with a pair of bar stools pulled up to the bar for a table, a small living area with a couch, coffee table and wall-mounted flat screen TV, and bed were all in one room, though the bed was somewhat separated in a bit of an alcove. But I could see the TV from the bed, which was a bonus.

Typically, the only guys who had efficiencies were either guys like Ram who had a real place somewhere close by but needed to be able to stay on premises on occasion or temporary but longer-term contract workers and visitors (like yours truly once upon a time). The full-time, permanent staff who lived solely at Haywood had full apartments with a full eat-in kitchen (instead of a kitchenette), living room and a separate bedroom.

Ram said he'd had a regular apartment until he bought his house, and then he'd given that up to Zip, who'd been living in this efficiency until a full-sized apartment became available. They just flipped.

I hadn't seen it yet, but Ram had also said they had a room set up dormitory style in the basement that could house six short-term contract workers in an emergency. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would be a place to eat, sleep, shower and relax a little between shifts.

I shared a room with three other girls for four years in college, and I didn't have an Ella to make it pretty and comfortable and well stocked with tasty food. I figured the contract workers could just suck it up and deal with it.

I woke up when the phone rang. "'Lo?" I answered sleepily.

"Hey, sweetheart, you asleep?" Ram asked, rather unnecessarily in my opinion.

I yawned and he chuckled.

"Yeah, taking a nap in your nice soft bed," I admitted.

He groaned. "So what's up?" I asked.

"Just checking on you before I go on monitors. Go back to sleep, gorgeous, and I'll see you when I get off at seven."

"I'll probably wander up before then," I said. "But if not, I'll see you then."

I did doze for a bit longer before finally deciding I'd better get up or I wouldn't sleep at all tonight. I re-made Ram's bed, cleaned up from lunch and then headed out. I walked on the treadmill in the gym for another twenty minutes before I went back up to five to hang out with the guys.

Ram took his eyes off the monitors only long enough to shoot me a quick smile before he refocused on them. "Hey guys," I said to Ram and Zip. "Anything interesting?"

Zip snorted. "Nothing interesting ever happens."

"Have a good nap?" Ram asked without moving his eyes off the monitors.

I kissed the top of his head. "Yep. Thanks for letting me borrow your bed."

"You can be in my bed anytime you want," he said with a chuckle.

"Good to know," I told him with another kiss to his head. "Now I'll stop distracting you. I'll see you later."

"Later, sweetheart."

I started walking away when I heard Zip. "Man, you are one lucky bastard."

"Yeah, I know," Ram replied.

"But Ranger's going to kill you when he gets back."

"He's welcome to try," Ram said in a hard tone. "But they were never dating and he had no claim on her, so she was a free agent once she dumped the cop."

"He might not agree with you on that," Zip cautioned.

"I don't care if he agrees or not. Steph and I have talked about it, she's told me what went on between them, and it's not what we all thought. They weren't dating, they weren't a couple, and if he doesn't like the fact that she's moved on, then he'll just have to get over it. Hell, we all saw how he was avoiding her before he left. Not exactly the actions of a man in a relationship. And that's all I'm going to say on the subject."

I was out of earshot after that, so I don't know if Zip said anything else or not, but I was pretty confident that Ram did not.

I went into Les' office. "Hey, Beautiful," he said when he looked up from a spreadsheet. "How are you feeling?"

"A little better after stretching and a nap. Thanks for the Pino's, too, by the way."

"You're welcome. You wouldn't happen to want to help do some of this damn paperwork, would you?" he asked in frustration as he waved at the piles of paper.

I giggled. "Tell me what you need done and I'll try to help."

He looked up in shock. "Really?"

I nodded.

"So you're taking the job?" he asked in excitement.

"I didn't say that. I said I'd try to help out a friend with his paperwork before he goes crazy. I haven't decided about the job. But I'm here now and Ram's not off duty until seven, so I'll see what I can help with until then."

"Oh, bless you, my child," Les said. "This is a stack of research requests. You already know how to do them if you want to start on them. Your old cubicle is still open, and I'll call Rodriguez to get the passwords and everything on the computer if you want to head over."

"Okay."

I gathered up the haphazard pile he'd indicated and headed out of the room. "And Steph?"

I turned back with my eyebrows raised. "Thanks," he said sincerely.

"You're welcome."

Ram found me chewing on the end of a highlighter almost three hours later. "You took the job?" he asked with a chuckle as he saw the explosion of papers.

I shook my head to clear my brain. "Huh? Oh no, haven't decided yet. But Les was about to be buried under an avalanche of paperwork, so I offered to help while I was here."

Ram came over and leaned over me. "How's it going?"

"Fine, just working on some research requests. Just give me a minute to get this one done and I'll be ready to go."

"Take your time. I've got a couple of things I can work on in my cube too, so I'll be there once you're done." Then he kissed my forehead and headed away.

I finished that request and then clipped everything together. I hadn't finished them all, of course, but I'd gotten through a decent enough number that I felt Les would be pleased. Les wasn't in his office, so I left them with Tank, who was still in his office.

"Bomber," Tank said when I tapped on his door. "What can I help you with?"

"Here's the research reports I ran for Les," I told him. "I didn't get them all done, but I finished what I could. I finished all the ones flagged with high priority. The rest are running on my computer and should be finished processing by tomorrow. But Les isn't in his office now, so what do you want me to do with these?"

He blinked once. "So you took the job? He didn't tell me."

I shook my head. "No, still thinking about that. I just did this to help Les before he got buried by all the paperwork in his office."

Tank's lips quirked into a half smile. "Once you've rescued him, feel free to help me."

"Why don't you guys hire an admin assistant or office manager or something?" I asked. "Someone to help with just the paperwork?"

Tank shrugged. "We keep trying to hire you and you haven't decided yet."

"I thought you wanted me to just do research."

"We'd settle for you just doing research," Tank corrected. "But if you wanted to come on full time, trust me, Little Girl, I have lots more stuff you could do. You could have whatever title you wanted, office manager, Queen of Sheba, whatever, but we need someone who can do the paperwork and admin stuff but who also knows the security and skip tracing business. There aren't too many people out there who fit both of those criteria."

I nodded thoughtfully. "I guess not. I'll seriously consider it, but I really do think Ranger will fire me as soon as he gets back."

Tank frowned at me. "No, he won't. We'll write up your contract so you report to me, and so that it'll take three out of the four of the core team to fire you. And you know that none of the rest of us would agree to fire you unless you really screw something up bad, which I don't see happening. And I'll personally make it real clear to Ranger Manoso that if he doesn't like you working here, that he and I will discuss it on the mats. And he may be good, but I'm better when I'm pissed, and nothing would piss me off more than him coming in here and trying to fire you if we could convince you to join us."

Then Tank grinned. "Or maybe I should just let you take him to the mats and school him yourself."

I laughed out loud. "He'd kill me in ten seconds and you know it!"

"No, because he'd be expecting old Steph, not new ninja Steph. You'd have the element of surprise and you could probably stun him or something before he knew what was happening."

I shook my head at that mental image. "You want me to die, do you?"

Tank laughed. "No, just would love to see the look on his face."

I grinned. "I'll think about it. You know I love nothing more than making sure you're amused."

Tank smiled at me. "And this is why we love you."

"Yeah, yeah. So where do you want these?"

"I'll let you into Santos' office and you can put them in his chair. I got enough of my own paperwork to deal with, I'm not managing his too."

I grinned at his disgruntled tone and followed him back down one office to Les' closed door. Tank beat on it, rattling the door on its hinges and then unlocked. I sat them on Les' chair and scribbled a post it note for him to call me (after 10 am!) and I'd explain them.

Then I found Ram and we headed home.

_**Author's note: **__Sorry for not posting last week, but midterms week kept me crazy! This week is spring break, so hopefully it'll be a little less intense and I can get a little more writing/ editing done._

_Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! They're addictive like Dove chocolate, only better for my waistline. I love 'em so much, so please let me know what you think of this chapter! Should Steph take the job or wait until Ranger's back from saving the world to see what he says? And should Les be worried that he's now on Steph's hit list? And how much longer can she live with Ram before one or both go nuts?_


	19. Gossip girls

_**Chapter 19**_

Once we got home, I helped Ram make dinner and then we cuddled on the couch.

I let out a sigh. "What's wrong? You hurting more?" he asked.

"No. Just figure it's time for me to deal with all the shit with my mom. I'm sure you're ready for me to get out of your hair," I said as I stared at my phone on the coffee table like it was going to jump up and bite me.

He reached out and grabbed my hand. "You're welcome here as long as you want. You're not bothering me at all, I like having you around all the time. But if you feel ready to deal with it all, do what you need to do. I'm here if you need me."

I leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "Thanks. Mind if I go in the bedroom to make the calls?"

"No, go wherever you want. My house is your house."

"I really am a lucky girl to have you in my life," I said as I stood.

He caught my hand. "I think I'm the lucky one."

I smiled and then headed to the bedroom with my phone. I dug a ratty notebook out of my purse and found a pen that actually worked, just in case I needed to make a note of who called or something.

"Your mailbox is full," was the first message when I called my voicemail. I laughed to myself. Bet that made the crazy gossips nuts when they couldn't leave me a message!

Probably about eighty percent of the messages were from gossips trying to find out if the rumors were true. Most of the rest were from actual friends leaving me a message of support. One was from a telemarketer wanting to know if I needed to get my carpets cleaned.

I called dad first, but he'd intentionally tried to stay out of the gossip so he didn't know much.

I couldn't call grandma because she was still living at mom's and I was definitely not willing to risk getting mom.

So I called Mary Lou.

"Steph!" she shrieked. "Ohmigod, are you okay? Where are you?"

"Hey, Mare," I said. "I'm alright, kinda sorta. And I'm staying out of the Burg until I know what's going on. So tell me."

She let out a sigh. "Crap, it's big. Huge. The shit has hit the fan. Your grandma went to the Clip 'N Curl and told them all about how she caught your mom being fingered by Morelli's dad when she was fourteen and full on getting freaky when she was fifteen, about how your mom begged and begged to be allowed to marry him but your grandparents refused because they didn't like him, and about how your mom's been on your ass since you were born because you were a girl and not a boy," Mare said. "Is she nuts? Doesn't she know that you didn't control that? Sheesh!"

Mare was always on my side.

"So anyways, now the Burg has totally turned on her. All the gossip is about what a hypocritical whore she is, was, whatever, and what a bitch she is to try to make you marry the son of the man she wanted to marry just because she's crazy. None of the ladies will talk to her, but they talk about her all the time." I could just see Mary Lou's eyes rolling at that.

"Your mom tried to go to the grocery store two days ago, she's taking a page from your book and living in denial, it seems, and she ran into Angie Morelli. They got into a huge screaming fight in the vegetable section. I wasn't there, but Mandy Genosa was, and she said it was epic. Angie called your mom a slut for cheating with Anthony when she knew that they were dating, and your mom said Angie wasn't good enough to keep him interested, and if she'd married him like they'd planned, she'd have kept him from cheating. She accused Angie of getting pregnant on purpose to steal Anthony away from her."

"Damn!"

"Yeah," Mare said. "And then Angie said that there was no way she'd allow her son to marry you now, not knowing what a crazy family you came from, and your mom said that her family was much worse, to just look at how insane Bella was with her damn eye. And anyways, she didn't care about Joe marrying you any more."

I shook my head in disbelief.

"So now there's war between the Angie Morelli and your mom, and I think this is a to the death kind of thing. I don't think they'll ever forgive each other. This whole thing is more twisted than the new 'Dallas' re-boot and it's all anyone in the Burg has talked about for days. So if I were you, hon, I'd stay wherever you are for a little bit longer."

"Crap."

"So where are you?" she asked.

"You remember Ram? The guy from RangeMan who's been helping me with self defense and all that?" I asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm at his house."

"You guys must be good friends, then," Mare said.

"Yeah, about that…" I trailed off. "Um, we're kinda dating now." I guess all the gossip about my mom trumped gossip about me having a new guy in my life.

"Ohmigod! Steph, he's freaking gorgeous!"

I smiled. "Yeah, I know."

"Good job, you!"

I laughed. "Thanks."

"So how long's this been going on? Details, give me all the details!"

So I told her about how we'd gone from casual friends to close friends to more than friends. Then I told her about how I'd nearly ravaged the poor guy when I'd got home from the debacle at my mom's house and she moaned. "Shit, your self control is way better than mine!"

"It was all him. He's the one who stopped me before I'd gone too far."

"Man deserves a sainthood!"

I chuckled. "Yeah, he really does," I agreed.

"So what now?"

"Well, he's said I'm welcome here as long as I want or need to stay. So I might stay another day or two until things calm down a little."

"You might as well move in then," Mare said, "because I don't know that this will ever calm down!"

I moaned. "Don't tell me that!"

"You don't want to move in with him?"

"I don't know, but for sure not after only dating for a week, and not because of this!"

"Good point. Look, it'll settle down some eventually, but it hasn't yet. It's still topic numero uno, and if you go back to your apartment, you'll have people knocking on your door at all hours of the day. Sad, but true. You know how crazy these people are."

"I know, that's why I took him up on his offer to stay with him for a couple of days," I said. "But it's been a couple of days already and I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Sounds like this guy really has it bad for you, so I doubt you'll be able to overstay your welcome. But keep in touch and I'll keep you updated so you'll known when it's safer to move back to your place. Hell, maybe now's a good time to move?" she suggested.

Hmm. That idea actually had merit. I'd wanted to move out of the Burg for ages, I actually hadn't wanted to move back that close to it in the first place, but it was all I could afford once I'd been laid off by E.E. Martin. Maybe it was time to move farther away from the Burg.

"Mare, you're a genius!"

"Yeah, but in which particular way this time?" she asked.

"I should move! I don't like living there really anyways."

Mare laughed. "Don't be too hasty, but it's something to think about," she agreed.

"Alright, I'll call you tomorrow," I told her. "Text me if something urgent happens before then. I'm not listening to voicemail on a regular basis since it was mostly gossip crap."

"Got it, hon. Good luck."

I decided I'd rather talk to Lula and Connie tomorrow, so I went back into the living room to talk to Ram.

He looked up from the book he was reading, closed it and opened his arms to me. "How'd it go?" he asked as I settled down next to him, his arm around my shoulder.

I shrugged. "About as well as expected. I talked to dad, who didn't know much, and then to Mary Lou, who knew a lot. It's the big topic and apparently my mom and Angie Morelli, Joe's mom, have declared war on each other. It's all anyone's talking about. Mare suggested I stay away from my apartment for at least another day or two, or that I move."

"You can stay as long as you like," Ram assured me.

"But I started thinking, maybe it's time that I start thinking about moving. There's got to be cheap apartments somewhere in this damn city other than right next to the Burg, right? I could move to someplace else, where every gossip in the whole town won't know where to find me?"

"Is your lease up?" Ram asked.

"In a couple of months."

"Well, if you really want to move then, I'll be happy to help you look at apartments, hopefully ones that would be a little more secure than the one you have now."

"You mean ones that a two year old couldn't break into in four seconds?"

"Yeah, that would make me sleep much better," he agreed.

"I'll really think about it," I told him. "I really do want to move if I can find someplace I can afford!"

"Have you thought more about coming back to work at RangeMan? That would boost your income and allow you to afford something a little nicer and more secure," Ram said. "But it's up to you, of course."

I told him about my conversation with Tank, and Ram was grinning broadly. "Sounds like they've figured out how to work it to protect you from Ranger if he comes back and doesn't like it," he said. "So that shouldn't be a concern."

"I am still worried about us, though," I said. "We're so new. What if working together screws it all up?"

"We won't let it. It was fine today, right?"

I nodded.

"I'm only in the actual office about half the time, maybe less. When I am at Haywood, I'm usually in the gym or the range. I run the range, but I don't see you wanting to spend twenty hours a week shooting." I made a face at that and he grinned. "So I won't see you more than a couple hours a week at the range probably. Most of the rest of my time is spent either on paperwork or the occasional monitor duty that we all do sometimes. So I don't think we'll be spending a ton of time together at the office."

"You sure?"

He shrugged. "We'll have to see, but I don't see us spending a ton of time together in the office, no. We can still work on your physical skills and training and conditioning, but it doesn't have to be at Haywood. We can continue using the gym downstairs if you'd prefer. It'll be up to you. And while I'd like to maybe have lunch or dinner or whatever depending on our shifts together once in a while, I'm not generally one to just sit and hang out at the office. When I'm at work, I'm usually working. So yeah, it would be fine."

"I'll think about it. Maybe talk to the guys more."

"Alright," he agreed. "Just do what's best for you, and I'll be behind you on it."

"Thanks."

"So, how are you dealing with all the crap with your family stuff?" Ram asked a minute later.

I shrugged. "Right now, I'm mad, mostly. She's such a hypocrite, acting like she's never done anything wrong, but yeah, she did. And you know, there would have been so much less gossip about me if my dear mother had just kept her mouth shut. So in a way, it's evil and awful of me, but I'm kind of enjoying knowing that she's learning what it's like to have everyone dissecting your ever mistake from childhood on up."

"Not evil or awful, just human," Ram corrected. "She's been a terrible mother for 30 years, so it's just natural that a little piece of you would kind of relish seeing her get her just desserts for it."

"I still feel like the fact that I'm enjoying at all means that I'm a terrible human being," I confessed.

"No, it just means you're a normal human being," he said firmly. "Not terrible at all."

We talked more, but I came to no new conclusions, other than that Ram was very insistent that being secretly amused and vindicated by the fact that mom had been outed did not make me an ogre.

After thinking about ogres, I used Ram's Netflix account to watch 'Shrek' while he read his book. We got ready for bed a bit later.

"I think I'm doing okay emotionally to sleep alone, if you'd rather have your bed back," I told Ram.

His eyebrow climbed his forehead. "Only if you want to be alone. I kind of like having you next to me, personally."

"You sure? I'm not an easy person to sleep with, I know," I said. "I woke you up at 1 am last night!"

Ram just smiled. "I'd prefer you saying my name to wake me up than getting damp. So no worries. It's up to you, Steph, I'm not going to force you into anything, but I like having you in the bed next to me."

"Well, it's your sleep I'll be disturbing," I told him. "So if it doesn't bother you, it doesn't bother me."

We fell asleep together.

_**Author's note: **__And again, I start with an apology. Work's been busy and I'm trying (emphasis on the word "trying") to re-decorate my horribly awful bathrooms that give Steph's 70s un-chic bathroom a run for its' money. Hanging wallpaper is not for the faint of heart or non-detail oriented. So I just haven't had the time I'd like to write. But better late than never, right?_

_Also, just an FYI, the rating is likely to change from T to M in the next chapter. ;-) _

_Please let me know what you think! Should Stephanie move out of her apartment? If so, to where? A new apartment or in with Ram?_


	20. Forward momentum

_**Chapter 20**_

When I woke up the next morning, Ram was still there, watching me with a half smile on his face, wearing a pair of basketball shorts. I stretched, winced when it hurt some, but not as much as yesterday, and then looked back at him. "Hey. What are you doing here?"

"Good morning, sweetheart," he said as he leaned over to kiss me good morning. "I don't go in until later. Just in the range today. Time for some of the guys to come in to get re-qualified this afternoon."

"Ah. Do you have fun with it?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah, I like shooting. So any day I get to spend time on the range putting holes in a target is a good day for me."

"Boys and their toys," I said with a smile.

"Yes, ma'am."

"When do you need to leave?" I asked.

"In about an hour. I just got back in bed after my workout and everything and was about to try to wake you up when you woke up on your own," he said.

"Oh, well that's awfully lucky for you," I told him.

"Why's that?"

"I hate being woken up. Loathe it with a passion. I'm not at all a morning person and having someone wake me up before I'm ready to get up just irritates the hell out of me."

He grinned. "My lucky day."

I grinned back. "Could be, if you're a good boy."

He groaned. "You're going to kill me, I swear."

I rolled on top of him and his eyes shot open as his hands grabbed my hips. "Now, if I wanted to kill you, I wouldn't do this first," I said before I leaned down and kissed him.

When I pulled back a minute later, we were both breathing heavy and we both had big smiles on our faces. "I don't know, you might want me to die happy," he said. It took me a second to figure out what he was saying. I just laughed.

"Well, yeah, in eighty years, I do want you to die happy. Just not anytime soon."

"Steph, I'd be 113."

"Sounds about right," I agreed as I snuggled against him, still draped across his chest.

He just chuckled and held me tight.

We lay together for a few minutes before I reluctantly let him up so he could go to work. "You want to come with me?" he asked as he started putting on his man in black uniform.

"Yeah, but I'm not. I'll swing by later, maybe. I need to catch up with Connie and Lula before they kill me, so I'll either go by the office or hopefully I can get them to meet me for lunch somewhere way outside the Burg. Maybe we can go to the mall and go shopping or something. I'll come by after that if I have any energy left."

"You can keep using my truck to keep things on the down low," he offered.

"Thanks, but I'm too terrified to drive your truck except to Haywood and back," I said with a smile. "Bobby would be horrified if he saw my blood pressure when I'm driving your truck, I'm sure it's awful. I'll stick with my little POS today, thanks."

Ram came over and sat next to me on the bed where I was still reclined and enjoying the view of Ram stripping down to his skivvies to get dressed.

"Alright, but if you need anything, you just call me," he said.

I leaned up to kiss him. "I will. Thanks. Have fun shooting poor paper men who never did anything to you."

Ram chuckled. "We will. You're coming by later?"

"That's my general plan, but depends on how long lunch and stuff goes," I said. "So let's leave it as a we'll see instead of a definite."

Ram nodded, kissed my forehead and then stood. Once he had his utility belt attached, he double checked it and then headed to the door. "Have fun today. Give me a call if I need to bring home more Cherry Garcia."

I laughed as he slipped out. He understood the necessity of Ben and Jerry. He's definitely a keeper.

I called the bond's office and asked Connie and Lula about meeting out at the new strip mall on the outskirts of town as far away from the Burg as it was possible to get and still be technically in Trenton. They agreed with alacrity.

"What about Vinnie?" I asked.

"The little weasel's out of town for a couple of days at a conference, which probably means a porn convention," Connie said with disdain. "So I'll put up the sign and forward the phone calls to my cell. We'll be fine."

"Sounds good. See you there at noon," we agreed.

Les called when I was in the shower, and he groaned loudly when I called him back and apologized and explained why I hadn't answered earlier.

"Good call, Beautiful. If I'd known you'd been naked and wet and soapy and, shit, I'm getting myself all worked up. Give me a minute."

I laughed. "You need to call me back later?"

"No, just ignore any odds sounds you hear," he teased. "So tell me what you're wearing now. Short little towel that barely covers anything?"

I rolled my eyes. "Ram's robe, and you sure you want to go there? I thought you were afraid of Barry?"

"Shit, you're right." He cleared his throat. "Anyways. So thanks for running those reports for me," he said. He had a couple of questions about them, and I tried to answer them while I got ready for my lunch date.

"What are you doing?" he asked in exasperation a minute later.

"Putting on lotion before I get dressed," I told him.

"Not fair! Don't tell me shit like that!"

"Then don't ask me questions!"

"Argh!"

"You really gotta get laid," I told him with a fit of giggles.

His voice dropped to his usual teasing tone. "You offering, Beautiful?"

"You really want to meet Barry, don't you?"

"Shit! Damn! Sorry!"

I laughed. "I know, it's habit."

He sighed. "Yeah. I'm used to flirting with you and it'll take me a little while to get used to not flirting with you."

"I don't mind it because I know there's nothing behind it, but Ram's not quite as blasé about it."

He muttered something that I couldn't get. "What was that?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "You coming over today?"

"Not sure. Meeting the girls for lunch and then we'll see. It's a possibility but I can't promise anything. You know how Connie and Lula can get."

Les just laughed. "Carry your panic button, just in case."

"Kiss my ass, Santos!"

"Best offer I've gotten all day!"

I blew a raspberry into the phone and Les chuckled. "Alright, thanks for helping and I'll see ya when I see ya."

"Later, gator," I said before I disconnected and finished getting ready for my interrogation, er, lunch.

I met the girls and they were full of gossip to share, not about me for once. It was still big news, but they understood why I'd gone into the Burg protection program, but they were both completely agog to learn that I'd been staying with Ram.

"Hot damn, you moved in with the hottie already!" Lula said.

I shook my head. "No, I'm just crashing with him until the shit settles a little and I can go back home. I haven't moved in with him."

"So where are you sleeping?" Connie asked as she took a sip of tea.

I blushed and they both giggled. It was astounding to see.

"Well, I started off in his guest room, but then I kinda had a breakdown and was crying, so he came in and held me until I fell asleep. I was able to sleep a lot better with him next to me," I admitted. "Just felt safer, you know?"

Lula nodded. She'd been through some really bad stuff with Ramirez, way worse than anything I'd been through and I'd been through some pretty bad stuff of my own. It was like comparing apples to zebras to talk about our bad stuff, though.

"You still sleeping with GI Joe at night?" she wondered.

I nodded. "Yeah, but just sleeping."

"Girl, why? He's fi-i-i-ine!" Lula said.

"Yeah, I know, but I don't want to rush things and screw them up," I explained as I munched on a fry. "It's getting damn difficult to behave, though."

"So don't. You may have only made it official a week ago, but you two been spending about all your free time together for the last couple of months. That's dating in my book. And doing the nasty after two months ain't rushing anything, that's moving slow as molasses," Lula articulated, waving her fry like a conductor's baton.

Hmm. I thought about that for a minute. In essence, we kind of had been dating for a couple of months now. We hadn't called it that, but we'd talk almost daily and we'd seen each other more days of the weeks than we hadn't. Hell, I'd seen more of Ram than when I'd been supposedly almost engaged to Joe!

So why was I being so reticent? Because I thought I'd be a slut if I slept with him after a week? Hell, by Lula's math, we'd already been dating for two months! At this point, we were moving as slow as a glacier!

And Ram had already said that he considered that we'd been dating unofficially for a month or two. So if I considered the same thing… yay!

I smiled at Lula and Connie, who both started sniggering. "If I'm reading that smirk right," Connie said, "Ram's about to be a very lucky boy!"

I grinned wider. "There's a distinct possibility that is true."

They both laughed. "Then we need to hit up Vicky's," Lula declared.

I immediately shook my head. "You're insane if you think I'm going in the mall. Too many Burg busybodies in there waiting to pounce!"

"There's a Priscilla's lingerie here in this strip mall," Connie said. "I'm sure you could find something interesting in there."

I grinned. I was sure I could too.

"Eat fast," Lula told Connie. "She's a woman on a mission."

We gobbled down the rest of our food and then headed towards the lingerie shop to find something that would knock Ram's socks (and the rest of his clothes, I hoped) off.

It didn't take too long to find the perfect outfit. It was black with royal blue trim. The main piece was a lace and silk babydoll that revealed as much as it concealed. There was a filmy little matching robe that didn't conceal jack squat. All together, I could pretty much guarantee that if me dressed in a burlap sack would get a reaction from Ram, me dressed in this would get a nuclear reaction.

I decided to forego going by Haywood. I'd be too easily flustered knowing that I planned to seduce Ram tonight and Les would find some way to get that bit of information from me. I couldn't even imagine what he'd do with that knowledge, but it couldn't be good.

I called Ram once I was back at his house. I didn't get him, so I left a message. He called me back an hour later after I'd given myself a mani/ pedi.

"Hey, sweetheart. What's up?" he asked.

You soon, I hope, I thought to myself. "Oh, nothing much. Just wondered what your schedule was like for the rest of the week."

"I'm off until Saturday morning after this," he said.

I nearly started rubbing my hands together in glee. Over forty-eight uninterrupted hours might be a nice start.

"Why?"

"Oh, just curious," I replied. Well, lied.

"Oh, okay. So what do you want to do then?"

"I'm sure we can come up with something," I said as a smile played at my lips. If I didn't chicken out with what I planned, I was pretty positive that we'd come up with something.

"Alright. I should be home by 7:30 or so. Want me to stop and pick up some dinner?" he offered.

"Sure, if you want to."

"How about Chinese?"

"Sounds great!"

"Alright, I'll see you in a few hours, gorgeous."

Okay, I had a few hours to set the scene and get myself ready for my close up, Mr. DeMill. I waxed, plucked, buffed, scrubbed, moisturized and basically took off the top layer of everything. Hair, skin, you name it. It was gone. Parts of me hurt like hell. The things we women do for beauty.

I didn't completely shave my hoo ha. I'd done that once for The Dick, and it had itched like a total mo-fo for a month. Not doing that again! But I did make sure my panty line was neat and that everything was in ship shape condition for my sailor man. I was sure he'd appreciate the effort more than The Dick had.

I stashed my new nightie in the drawer and then got dressed in my usual lounge pants and t-shirt to wait on Ram to get home with dinner. I'd already turned the dogs out in the yard to play and frolic and basically get exhausted, so I cleaned out Rex's cage and fed him.

That done, I sat down to wait on Ram.

I didn't have to wait too long before I heard the garage doors sliding open and his truck pulling in. "Honey, I'm home," he called out as he walked in with a bag from The Golden Palace.

"Hello, dear, how was your day?" I deadpanned.

He grinned. "Fine. Shot a bunch of stuff. It was fun."

I shook my head. "I bet Donna Reed never heard that."

"Probably not."

We had dinner at the table after Ram changed out of his RangeMan uniform and into more comfortable clothes. We fell into our usual comfortable conversation as we ate eggrolls and General Tso's chicken. I even ate the vegetables.

I told Ram the PG parts of my conversations with Connie and Lula, and he was astounded to hear how much gossip was out there about my mom, grandma, me, Val, etc. I was pretty sure they'd managed to work Sasquatch into the conversation somehow, but I wasn't sure how other than the fact that most of the Morelli's were notoriously hairy.

We watched TV for a little while, but I was too twitchy to sit still. Ram finally clicked off the TV. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, fine."

"Please don't lie to me. Obviously there's something on your mind, so just tell me what it is so I can try to help you, or tell me to butt out, but don't lie to me, please," he said patiently.

That settles it. I officially adore this man.

"Nothing I really want to talk about," I said. I was much better at show than tell in school. "I'll be back in a minute, okay?"

"You sure you're okay?"

I smiled at him. "I'm sure. I'm fine, I promise."

He nodded slowly. "Okay then."

I went into the bedroom and changed into my pretty little frilly thing. I debated how to do this, so I finally just settled for walking back out into the living room wearing the peek-a-boo robe.

"This is why I was so nervous," I said with one hand on my hip.

Ram looked up quizzically and then froze. I don't even think he was breathing.

"Steph," he said in a strangled voice. "Wh-what are you doing?" he asked in a husky voice.

I strolled over to where he was sitting absolutely motionless on the couch.

"Seducing you, Mr. Ramsey," I said softly. "If that's okay."

He was on his feet instantly. "I… but… shit!"

I smiled at his eloquence. "You said that nothing would happen until I was sure about it in the light of day. Well, I bought this little ensemble just for you in the light of day earlier today."

He ran one slightly calloused finger along the edge of the robe. "You picked it out for me?" he asked in a voice so deep I almost didn't recognize it.

I nodded. "Just for you, and only you," I confirmed.

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, breathing in slowly through his nose. When he opened his eyes again, they were like the depths of a flame.

"And you're sure about this?"

I untied the robe and let it slide off my shoulders to pool on the carpet. He didn't need a second invitation.

"You're so beautiful," he said reverently. "I can't believe how incredibly gorgeous you are."

I blushed slightly. "And when you blush like that," he said as he drew his thumbs across the apple of my cheeks, "it makes me crazy."

Then he lowered his lips to mine in a slow, thorough kiss that nearly drove me insane. I tried to get closer, and he gladly obliged me, pulling me into his arms and holding me tight against his chest as one hand settled on my hip and the other trailed down over my lace and silk clad derrière to pull me even closer.

I moaned into his mouth and that seemed to make him crazy as the hand on my hip moved to my ass and he lifted me against him. I wrapped my legs aground his waist and it was his turn to groan.

"Ah, hell, sweetheart," he panted a minute later when he'd finally managed to tear his lips away from mine.

"Hmm?" I murmured, totally distracted.

His hands were busy, lightly squeezing and molding the flesh of my ass to his big hands.

I hadn't even noticed that we were in motion until Ram suddenly lowered me to the edge of the bed. I whimpered when he pulled away, but it was just so he could pull off his shirt. I stopped pouting. That was just fine with me. Shirtless was good. Naked would be even better.

His ESP must have been working just fine because he shucked his shorts too. I caught my breath when I saw him in all his glory, but I only had a few seconds to appreciate my fantastic view before he was back next to me, his lips attached to the swell of my breasts above the semi-sheer fabric.

Then his lips trailed a bit further south, his tongue darting out to drag across my aching nipple, the rasp of the fabric and the wet heat of his mouth sheer torture.

I moaned, and he groaned. "Ram, please," I begged. I wasn't entirely sure what I was begging for, but beggars can't be choosers, and I felt confident that anything he chose to do would be just fine with me.

"What do you need, sweetheart?" he mumbled in a raspy voice, his lips attached to my nipple.

I just arched my back in answer and I swear he growled. He suckled on my nipple while his other hand came up to cup my poor, neglected left breast.

I wasn't famous for my sound effects for nothing, so I moaned again, gasping as his talented fingers tweaked my nipple gently while he grazed my other nipple with his teeth.

I don't know how long he just tormented me, but I was _thisclose_ to it being game over and he hadn't even gotten to any of the really good bits yet.

"Ram!" I demanded.

He rolled over onto his back, taking me with him. Thank goodness it was a big bed.

My legs fell to the side of his hips as I struggled to regain my equilibrium. I braced my hands against his shoulders and sat up slightly, smiling as he groaned, low pitched but loud.

"Ah, sweetheart," he said, sounding like he was in pain. I watched in fascination as the muscles of his chest and arms tensed as he gripped at the blankets. I leaned down and nibbled at the corded muscles that were so taunt. His skin was like velvet and it glistened slightly.

He was naked, and I was all but naked in my sheer little nightie, and I could definitely tell how much he approved of ministrations.

"Jesus, Steph," he said tersely as I scooted down and brushed against his straining erection. The string of words that followed reminded me that he was indeed a sailor man.

He was panting by now as I slipped down to trace the ridges of those delightful washboard abs with my tongue. One hand fisted in my hair like he was desperate for some sort of connection.

As I drifted lower, he made some sort of inarticulate noise in his chest. I smiled, but before I could do anything that would truly earn me those noises, he abruptly sat up and pulled me against his chest.

His eyes were burning a brilliant blue as he kissed me like his life depended on it.

I pouted that he interrupted my play, but he just kissed me again. "Later, if you want," he promised as he gently lifted the nightie over my head.

Then he gently laid me back against the bed as he slipped down in the bed. He kissed his way down my body, before nuzzling his face against the tiny scrap of lace that remained as he settled between my legs.

"Oh, God," he murmured as he kissed and nipped at my inner thighs. I was writhing on the bed at this point, beyond desperate.

"Please," I moaned. "Please."

I felt him slip the panties to the side as he lapped at the Mississippi River that had relocated from the middle of the country to the middle of my body. I shuddered as it felt like electricity was flowing through me. He continued to lap at my center as his big hands slid under my derriere to tilt my pelvis up so he could sweep his tongue over the bundle of nerves that made me jerk and twitch.

One thumb slid over to play at my opening as he suckled and lapped at my highly sensitive clit.

"Ram!" I screamed as I exploded into ten million pieces, give or take a few.

I vaguely heard his satisfied groan as he continued to use his tongue to torture me well past anything the Geneva Conventions would have allowed. Instead of coming down from my high, he pushed me higher as one hand slid from under my ass to have two long fingers gently thrust into me in time to the motions of his talented tongue.

I saw galaxies being formed behind my eyes as every muscle in my body, including those in my eyelids, tensed.

I let out a strangled scream as it happened again.

By the time I'd caught my breath and had willed my legs to release their tension, Ram was already in motion. God, I love a man with a plan.

He withdrew his fingers and his tongue from me and pushed himself up so he was hovering over me as he dropped a kiss below my belly button. Then he came up on his knees and scooted back a little, his little sailor, who was not little at all, saluted manically. He swept my sodden underwear down my legs before crawling back up so we were lined up in a most interesting way.

"Are you sure?" he asked as he stared into my eyes.

I managed to nod. "Yeah."

I watched as he swallowed hard as he reached over me and into the nightstand to pull out a condom. He tore it open and rolled it on before settling back between my thighs.

I swallowed as he guided himself into me. I gasped at the first intrusion. Somehow, it felt different with Ram. I trusted him in ways I never had any of my previous lovers, and I knew deep down that this thing between us was real.

He thrust in slightly and then pulled back before moving a little farther. He was big, and it had been a long time, so he was being gentle with me.

Finally, though, our hips met and he was completely inside me. I wrapped my legs around his hips and he let out a heartfelt groan. Then we settled into our dance of advance and retreat. I could feel the tension building again, and I was thrashing under him as he brought his hand up to brush at my clit as he moved.

I wasn't really breathing at this point, but I'm pretty sure he wasn't either. I was just gasping as the electricity built. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore, and I felt all my muscles clamp down as all the gathering sensations exploded into a maelstrom of blinding colors.

He followed me over the edge of the cliffs, groaning my name as he stiffened and thrust one more hard time into me.

He collapsed into my arms and I held him, delighting in his weight pressing me down into the mattress.

A few moments later, he kissed me gently and withdrew as he shifted his body off mine. We were both hot and sweaty from all of our cardiovascular endeavors, so he settled down next to me, one hand curled around my hip as he held me loosely.

It was a long while before I was able to speak. "Wow," I finally breathed.

I could feel his breath wash over my cheek as he chuckled. "Yeah," he agreed. "That was definitely a wow."

I grinned as I turned my head to look at him. He was grinning back at me, both dimples flashing in his cheeks as his eyes twinkled at me.

"You okay?" he asked after a moment.

"Yep," I purred as my eyes slid shut.

He laughed again and I had to smile at the sound. I felt the bed shift as he moved, but opening my eyes was too damn much work.

He got out of the bed and was gone just long enough for me to start to fall asleep, completely boneless and sated. I felt him come back and pull down some of the rumpled blankets, but I was too blissed out to move. He just lifted me into his arms and carried me around to the other side of the bed, where he gently lay me down on the cloud-soft sheets. Ten seconds later, he settled in on the other side of the bed and pulled me into his arms.

I let out a sigh as I snuggled against him, and his arms tightened around me. "Go to sleep, gorgeous. You're going to need your strength."

With that happy thought and a smug smile, I fell asleep.

_**Author's note: **__Sorry for vanishing! It's been a rough end to the semester for myriad reasons, but hopefully, that's all in the past now._

_Please let me know what you think! I struggle with writing actual sex scenes, so please let me know if it was too cheesy or not._


	21. Afterglow

_**Chapter 21**_

We woke several times during the night, and that box of condoms was significantly lighter by the time we woke up late in the morning. I had a perma-grin on my face that nothing could wipe away.

"Good morning, gorgeous," a rumbly voice told me. I rolled to my side and kissed my lover.

"It is now," I purred. Ram chuckled as I tucked my head against his shoulder.

I wrinkled my nose at the smell of slightly sweaty man and sex. "We need showers," I told him.

Ram laughed. "Yeah, someone kept making me get all sweaty," he replied.

"Was that a complaint?" I demanded.

"Hell no!"

"Then stop whining about it, and let's go. Besides, you did say you wanted to be present if I used your shower massager…" I reminded him.

He was out of the bed like he was shot out of a cannon. I giggled as he leapt out of the tangled sheets and held out a hand to me.

"Your wish is my command," he told me in a smoky voice filled with promise.

After nearly an hour, we were squeaky clean, but I felt like I had no bones left. The SEAL truly was phenomenally gifted in the water. Thank God he had a big shower. And that I'd gotten more flexible working with Ram and the guys, because otherwise, some of the things that I really enjoyed wouldn't have been possible.

We staggered, okay, I staggered and Ram swaggered, out of the bathroom and threw on some clothes. The dogs were whining piteously, and I figured they were either really hungry or in desperate need of a bathroom break.

Ram opened the backdoor, and both dogs shot out of the house. Twenty minutes later, Colt pawed at the door and let out a short bark.

We were eating breakfast, and Ram had already poured a healthy amount of kibble in their bowls for their eventual return. They snarfed up their breakfast with happy little doggie sounds. Rex ate his grape and baby carrot without making any types of noise, he just shoved them in his cheek and dove head first into his soup can, his furry rear twitching slightly as he ate in privacy.

"So what do you want to do today?" Ram asked casually.

I just shrugged. "Honestly?"

He nodded.

"I'd pretty much planned to do you."

His grin could have lit up Yankees Stadium. "Yes, ma'am!"

I laughed at his eagerness and he grinned sheepishly. "Well, was there anything else you wanted to do today? Not that I'm not completely and totally fine with your plan," he hastened to add.

I just smiled. "Nope. We can just hang out if that's okay with you."

I got the toothpaste grin. "Absolutely fine with me, gorgeous."

We loaded the few dishes into the dishwasher and then wandered outside to sit on his deck. He sat down on a chaise lounger and pulled me into his lap. I just snuggled in closer.

We spent the next hour just enjoying the cool breezes as we sat in the shade and watched the dogs alternate between chasing each other with frantic abandon and lying panting on the grass. Between the yelps and the woofs of doggie delight, Ram and I just talked.

I was curled against him, lying on my side with my head pillowed on his bicep, when his cell phone rang. He glanced at the display. "It's my mom," he said apologetically. "I should probably answer."

I grinned. "You're a momma's boy?"

He swatted my rear lightly as he answered. "Hi, mom."

I could hear his mom talking, but I couldn't quite make out everything she was saying. I perked up when I heard the words "high school reunion" come out of the phone.

"I probably won't go," Ram said.

There was another long stream of chatter while I looked at him. "Mom, I don't need you to set me up with some girl I went to high school with!"

More chattering.

"Because I'm already seeing someone!" he finally exclaimed.

I could hear the silence for about 0.25 seconds before I could clearly hear the "who?" She must have practically yelled.

Ram sighed and I stifled a giggle. That earned me another light swat for laughing at his pain. I didn't even pretend to not listen to his side of the conversation. I didn't have to hear his mom's side to know what was going on.

"Her name is Stephanie Plum, and she works with RangeMan, too."

"Divorced, but no kids."

"We haven't talked about kids, mom."

"A couple of months."

"Because I knew you would interrogate me worse than anything the Navy could throw at me."

"No, you'll scare the poor girl."

"Yeah, she does have a gun, and I'm working on getting her to carry it all the time."

"I'm tempted to shoot you!" he said with a laugh.

I could hear laughter from the phone, and Ram continued to laugh with his mom. She made another comment.

"She's absolutely gorgeous. The most beautiful blue eyes you've even seen, long curly brown hair and an amazing smile. You'll like her mom, I promise," he said.

He shot an indulgent smile at me. "Yeah, I do like her. A lot."

I smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. His arm tightened around me a little.

"Maybe one day, if you promise to leave the interrogation at Gitmo," he finally said.

They chatted about other stuff for a minute or two before he prepared to hang up. "Yeah, I'll tell her. Bye mom, love you too."

I sat up to look at him. "Tell me what?"

He groaned. "That my mom's looking forward to meeting you."

I stuck my hands on my hips. "And why do you sound like that's the worst thing you could ever possibly imagine?"

Ram threw one arm over his eyes. "Because she'll adore you and all I'll ever hear from then on is how great you are and how I need to hurry up and marry you before you get away."

I burst out laughing. Ram looked pained.

"I'm not kidding," he insisted, "she's ready for grandkids, and since Ashley not in any hurry, as the oldest, it's my job."

I grinned at his discomfort, mostly because I had been there with my mom so often.

"You think she'd like me, huh?" I queried.

He took his arm off his head. "I'm absolutely sure she'll love you. Probably more than she loves me."

"Oh, stop. You know no mom…" I trailed off. "Well, your mom's probably not insane, so she'd never love anyone more than she loves you and your sister."

He sat up and wrapped strong arms around me. "Sorry, gorgeous. I didn't think about how talking to my mom might bring up some unpleasant issues for you."

I just shrugged against his shoulder. "You can't stop talking to or about your mom because mine's insane. Don't worry about it."

"You okay?" he asked gently.

I nodded. "Yeah. It still sucks, but it is what it is."

He rested his chin on the top of my head. "Yeah, but it does suck."

We sat in silence for a while. There was really nothing to say. But… there was something I could do to get my mind off my mom.

I pressed a soft kiss to Ram's throat and smiled when I felt his arms tense around me. I pressed another kiss just under his ear and was rewarded with a slight shudder from the SEAL in my arms.

"Ram?"

"Hmm?" he responded slightly breathlessly.

"Have you had enough fresh air for now?"

He stood up with me in his arms and double-timed it to the house. Answer enough, I supposed.

Much later, I let out a sigh of happiness. Ram's chest rumbled in response.

"Damn, woman," he said, but I could hear the grin in his voice. His very raspy voice. I'm not RangeMan's queen of distractions for nothing!

I snuggled closer contentedly, and got a rumbling chuckle from my pillow.

"You're going to be the death of me," he admitted. "But I'll happily go anyways."

We snuggled for a while longer until hunger pains drove us out of the bed. It was well past lunchtime, but since we'd eaten breakfast so late and had, ahem, worked up an appetite since then, it didn't matter the time, just that we were hungry. We had sandwiches and fruit while sitting on rocking chairs on the porch.

I checked my phone and saw a text from Les, asking if I was coming over to hang out today. I knew he'd hear something in my voice, so I settled for texting him back to say no instead. I just got a frowny face in response a few minutes later.

I knew Les would understand. If he had a chance to get some on his day off, he'd be gone faster than the Flash.

"I was thinking," I started a bit later while Ram was reading the book he'd brought to the front porch.

"Uh oh," he teased.

I stuck my tongue out at him and he grinned at me, flashing one of those delightful dimples my way.

"Could you help me scout out apartment buildings that are safer than mine now?"

He put aside his book. "Of course. You really want to move?"

"I want to at least explore options. I don't want to live where every psycho and their cousin can find me anymore, if I can help it," I admitted.

"I'm sure we can find you something. But I'm serious, you're welcome here as long as you like."

"And I appreciate that, but I don't want to screw things up by rushing them," I told him with a smile. "Hopefully I'll be around still, so you won't be able to miss me too much."

"As long as I know where you live, I'll just come find you when I start to miss you," he replied as he pulled out his cell phone. "How about if we start by checking the apartment complexes that RangeMan provides the security for? We'd know you were safe then."

I pulled a face. "As long as it's not too intrusive. I don't want one of the guys in the control room to know every time you come over or I leave the house."

"Noted."

He spoke with one of the guys on the phone and explained what he needed. When questioned why, he told him. "Steph's thinking about moving, and I'm helping her look at some places."

He printed the list out from his email a few minutes later. We split up the list and started Googling the various places. A few were clearly outside of my budget from the get go, and a couple listed waiting lists on the web sites. Patience is not my middle name, so I marked those off.

"Check this out," Ram said. I stood, stretched slightly and padded over to him. I tried to lean over his shoulder to read, but he simply scooted his rolling chair back slightly and pulled me into his lap.

I squeaked slightly and then settled into his lap with a slightly affronted look. He grinned and pointed at the screen, so I started reading.

Hmm, interesting. I took control of the mouse and scrolled down. This building was about as far away from the Burg as you could get and still be in the monitoring zone for RangeMan. Truly, it wasn't the most beautiful complex I'd ever seen in my life, but considering my current apartment was a big red brick wart and my only view was of the Dumpster, I wasn't going to quibble about aesthetics.

Ram reached around me to click on one of the floor plans for a one-bedroom apartment. It was bigger than what I had now. Of course, I think my freshman year dorm room was possibly bigger than the apartment I have now, so that's not saying much. The pictures of the apartment, however, were much nicer than my current place. The bathroom looked like it was at least from this century. And not one bit of brown and mustard anywhere!

"Vacancies?" I asked as I hit the back button.

"Taking applications for vacancies in August and September," Ram reported. "When could you end your lease?"

I had to think about it for a minute. My lease is up on June 30, and it was currently mid-May.

"July 1," I told him. "Not sure whether they'd let me stay another month, though."

Ram shrugged. "We can get you a rental unit and you can stay here. No problem."

I nibbled on my lip. "You might be tired of me in another couple of months."

"Bet I won't."

"But you could."

"Extremely unlikely. Negligible risk."

"What if you are?" I pressed.

"Then you should have me admitted to the hospital for my head to be shrunk."

I laughed at his super serious tone.

He cracked a grin. "Seriously, I don't see a problem. I like having you here. I get that you want to have your own space, even if I do think it's a waste since I'll be there or you'll be here whenever possible, but I understand. But if you need a place to stay for a couple of months while waiting on an apartment, just stay here. There's plenty of room, the dogs already love you more than their favorite bones and, well, I really like having you here too."

"Like it, huh?"

"Yeah."

And there's the quiet, almost stoic Ram I know and love.

Wait, love?

"So you maybe want to check it out tomorrow?" He checked the dive watch on his wrist. "Probably closed by now, it's after six."

I looked at the photos online again before nodding. "Yeah. It's the only one that's in my price range and location requirements so far. Meaning far, far away from the Burg."

"I figured that would be a prime selling point," he admitted.

"You know me so well."

"I'm trying. Now, if I know you very well at all, you're probably starting to get a little hungry again. Am I right?"

I nodded guiltily. I was feeling a bit hungry. Okay, so the truth was, I could eat a wildebeest.

"Stay in or go out?"

I thought for a minute. I wasn't quite ready to share him with others yet. "Stay in?"

"Fine by me. We wanna cook or go get take out?"

"Any preferences for you?"

"Nope. As long as I can eat something other than a MRE, I'm good."

"Easy to please, huh?"

"If I don't have to hunt it, kill it, clean it and cook it, I'm good."

I gagged at that thought. I was not cut out for survival training.

Ram just grinned.

"Chicken has always and will always only come from Cluck in a Bucket," I informed him. "It was never anything else before it was a nugget or a strip. And I refuse to listen to anything otherwise."

That earned a chuckle. "Channeling Scarlett again with that denial?"

"Hey, if it ain't broke," I teased.

"Alright, Ms. O'Hara, what's for dinner then. Turnips?"

"Ick."

"Guess the root vegetables are out, then," he mused.

"Good guess."

"So any ideas from the peanut gallery?"

"You can never go wrong with a good pizza."

"Pino's or Shorty's?"

"Either's fine with me. I'm easy."

"You couldn't have mentioned that a couple of months ago?"

I elbowed him in the gut and he grinned before kissing my nose lightly. "You saying it wasn't worth the wait?" I demanded.

"Yep. But just because I wore Navy blue doesn't mean that my ba… Oof!"

That shot to the stomach was a bit more forceful. "Aww, poor widdle baby. Want me to kiss it and make it all better?" I cooed in a fake voice.

He got a wicked grin on his face. "Yes, please."

"Screw you, Ramsey!" I giggled.

"Again, yes, please," he retorted.

"Maybe later. Feed me first."

He let out a groan that I think was only partially fake. At least one of his reactions couldn't be faked, and I felt that one under my tush.

We kept up our banter while we decided on pizza. I was still reluctant to face the Burg reaction at Pino's, so we called in a pizza to Shorty's. Ram's house was outside of their delivery zone, utter sacrilege, so I clambered into his big truck with him to go pick it up. I'd stay nice and hidden in the truck since I was wearing a ratty t-shirt and shorts that must have shrunk in the dryer at some point. While Ram definitely didn't complain about how the thin material hugged my curves, I didn't particularly want to show off my assets to the usually sketchy clientele at Shorty's.

I was getting antsy and ready to risk life and limb to go look for Ram when he finally ambled back to the truck.

"Geez, did they have to grow those tomatoes?" I snarked as the heavenly scent of pizza hit my nose as he handed me the big pizza box and climbed in the driver's seat.

Ram grinned. "Nah. But some of the guys were in there and giving me shit. I finally told them that you were waiting on pizza and I'd be sure to explain why it was cold when I got it home. You and your stomach are legendary, so they finally let me leave."

"Punks," I muttered under my breath.

Ram just grinned and put the truck in gear. I was nearly drooling by the time we made it back to Ram's house, and only a tiny sliver of self-control I didn't know I had kept me from eating in the truck.

As soon as that pizza hit the table, all bets were off. That cardboard box better run or it was getting ripped apart.

I was actually able to converse after I finished moaning over my first piece. Ram just shook his head and handed me a napkin. My face probably looked like a red Rorschach test.

"Yeah, you've got some on your face too," I told him. At least I wasn't the only one.

He just shook his head slightly and wiped his face.

We ate the pizza, watched TV for a while, and then decided we were both extremely tired (read: horny) and went to bed extremely early. Not much sleeping took place for quite a while, however.

_**Author's note:**__ So… I'm not dead! Seems like I start everyone one of these with an apology. Sorry for dropping off the face of the planet. Between car issues (I got a new to me Hyundai SUV I've named Lester Santa Fe) and my laptop dying, taking with it my most recent draft of this story, so I had to try to piece it back together from memory._

_I've also not been able to respond to reviews and PMs due to not having a computer and having to use a loaner one that was slow as molasses in January blizzard, but I'll be better about that now! Pinky swear._

_Please let me know what you think! Should Steph move, or should something happen to keep her from moving to the new building so she continues to stay with Ram and the dogs? When should Steph meet Mama Ramsey?_

_Thanks for reading and reviewing!_


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